Review: Atlas, Canteen

Well it seems that however hard you try to escape it the gravitational pull of the Bristol music scene is bound to pull you back. A few years back jazz pianist Rebecca Nash left us to find her fortune in the Big Smoke and thence to Brum. She’s done fine out there but nonetheless something has drawn her back home to the place where she first lifted the lid on a piano and so we came to Canteen to catch Atlas, her latest quartet project. 

The new band features Chris Mapp on bass guitar and Matt Fisher on drums as well as local trumpeter Nick Malcolm whose hectic working life meant that the gig started a tad late. While Nick regained his composure the band began with an elegant ballad – Loch Murr? – that established a kind of Weather Report groove, with classic electric piano and Jaco-style ostentatious bass guitar. For all the loose freedom of the music the band clearly also needed their sheet music to hold to Rebecca’s elaborate constructions – the music was always highly ‘composed’, with built-in shifts of meed and energy nicely captured in the arrangements.

As the first set drew to a close Chris Mapp let loose an impressive barrage of effects pedals, blending a looping rhythm soundscape with an urgent pulsing bass line, the keyboards turning loose with Matt’s drums exploring the rush of cymbals. Over it all Nick Malcolm arose, pulling off that rare trick of both sticking to the script and yet expressing ones own feelings about it. It was clear he’d settled in after his bustling arrival and, thereafter, he would play a strong role in shaping each tune. For this particular number it was as if Kenny Wheeler had been dragooned into a funk band, all smart stabbing phrases and spot-on rhythm playing. The piece decayed nicely into a loose electronic abstraction with samples of Rebecca’s keyboards bleeping quietly into oblivion.

After an interlude in which – amazingly – the band fulfilled their promise to ‘take a short break’ the toy piano intro to Peaceful King announced a number which would contrast a spacious theme of descending chords with super-busy drum and bass . The discursive exchange between keyboard and trumpet allowed Rebecca’s assertive imagination to prove a well-matched foil for Nick’s free flowing lines, reminding us who had written the music while allowing her to take a more central role than in previous bands. It seemed as though this particular combination of players allowed her to spread her wings in an impressive way. 

All in all it was a fine set, with the four players taking their turns to shine in each number while giving each other the space when it was needed. The result was accomplished: a series of  well-composed tunes that both allowed the individual players space to improvise while sustaining the complex structure of the pieces. It was a tribute to the players that this tension barely caused them to break sweat, but that the distinctive pieces were enabled to flourish with freshness.