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Review: Greg Cordez Quintet, St George’s Apollo
For the musicians involved, at least, this could have been a tough gig.
As with his first two albums, bass player and composer Greg Cordez hightailed it off to New York to record a third – Magnolia – hiring a selection of NY players to play a bunch of his new compositions before returning to the UK with the finished product.
All well and good, but someone else has to help him debut the music live. And when you factor in the pandemic’s enforced hibernation, it all adds up to a bit of a challenge.
is needed now More than ever
Greg Cordez and Andy Bain
Happily for Greg, however, there are some pretty smart musical talents to be called on hereabouts and it has to be said they did him proud from the first notes of the (appropriately named) Let Me Begin Again through to the closing lullaby of All That Is (Part 2).
That first slow-burn tune set the template for many of Greg’s tunes, starting with a simple and clear bass-led opening leading to a melodic saxophone line (courtesy of tenor player Nick Dover).
From that statement things grew around Rebecca Nash’s electric piano, Andy Bains building the sound from the drum kit and the urgent bassline shifted up a gear.
Nick’s sax cut through the crescendo, stretching and rolling the tune over a strong chord sequence before things fell back to a skeleton bass over sketchy keys and Steve Banks’ wistful guitar played it out to silence.
Steve Banks and Rebecca Nash
It was an impressive start, both in the nicely balanced sound (sax and drums being acoustic versus amplified bass, guitar and keys) and also in the fidelity to the recorded version, albeit in a way that reflected the players’ own stylings.
This was even more apparent in the opening guitar and piano duet of Drift, an untypically light-touch number with an elegant melody emphasised in moments of unison between sax and piano over restrained bass and drums.
The result was atmospheric, spacious and compelling.
By contrast, Company Milk was a more sleazy, downtown kind of groove thanks to funky bass, hip-hoppish drums and some nifty Headhunters style electric piano from Rebecca.
The number was capped by an exultant guitar solo, soaring above the tightening groove until a final coda brought things down to dreamy keys and a wash of cymbals.
Yet again, however, the collective sound held together remarkably close to the album with Steve Banks capturing Steve Cardenas’ guitar sound from the record perfectly.
The same could be said of Figlock, one of the few tracks played from Greg’s previous album, with its insistent circular riff building to a massive prog-like climax and a snappy ending.
The combination of Nick’s elegiac sax and Steve’s reflective guitar was finely balanced and gave it real emotional depth.
But really this was all about Magnolia and, on this showing, the album’s melodic strength and variety of tone made for a great set of contemporary jazz excellently suited to the jazz café vibe of St George’s Apollo space (actually the cafe/bar).
All photos by Tony Benjamin
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