Music / Jazz
Review: Kourosh Kanani Trio, St George’s Glass Room
Though already well-established in the manouche style of ‘Gypsy’ jazz, guitarist Kourosh Kanani formed this trio to explore his Persian roots, releasing a debut album in 2022. This gig marked the band’s first trip to Bristol with that material.
Kourosh Kanani (guitar), Dave O’Brien (bass). (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Striking a casually confident figure in the Glass Room, with double bass player Dave O’Brien and drummer Matt Davies beside him, Kourosh set out his stall with a new tune Isar, a bubbling filigree of Moorish scales driven by solid bass lines and whipsmart drumming. The tune elaborated and moved through a series of tightly arranged variations, the rhythms shifting to bring out different aspects of the melody. While Kourosh’s elaborate and distinctive playing style had inevitable improvisatory echoes of traditional oud music you could also detect some of the structures of Flamenco guitar and even Indian sitar. For the drummer it provided the opportunity to take apart the rhythms, offering atmospheric elements like rattlesnake rimshots or snare drum rolls.
Matt Davies (drums). (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Once we were acclimatised to this very original sound Kourosh introduced Bedioor, a Persian variant on a Kurdish traditional folk song. It proved to be quite the epic, starting with a loose guitar phrase vaguely recalling The Doors’ intro to This Is The End that surged off with the arrival of a compelling bass riff and tight drums. That then stripped back to a more haunting ballad which in turn became gently dubbed-out before the bass took the melody away once more. The sound built into a steady almost-Motorik beat and the guitar really took off, Kourosh’s right hand a blur over the groove until that, too, shifted and the piece finished with an eloquent and restrained drum solo. Commenting on the tune’s 10-minute length Kourosh reassured us “They aren’t all that long” and, indeed, they weren’t. But it was an excellent and imaginative arrangement that made the most out of an uncomplicated traditional melody and let us all see just how much musicianship the threesome had between them.
is needed now More than ever
Kourosh Kanani (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Though the set was a mix of traditional adaptations and Kourosh’s own compositions there was a general consistency of sound across the evening. Stand out numbers – apart from Bedioor – included The Spin, a surging and retreating study in dynamics with a fine bass solo, and the Armenian-inspired Komitas which also showcased an elegant bass feature leading to an enormous crescendo of drumming. After that intensity Kourosh sat alone at the front of the stage and played a restrained solo piece – Quietness – as if to let us get our breath back. Then they closed with Nasya, an Arabic flavoured jazz-rock workout that drifted into prog territory with elaborate unison moments between guitar and bass or guitar and drums. The piece’s momentum eventually left Dave O’Brien flailing across his bass strings as it drew to a snappy close.
Kourosh Kanani (guitar), Dave O’Brien (drums). (pic: Tony Benjamin)
It would be hard to pigeonhole this music and there would be no point, anyway – its fusion of Middle Eastern folk forms, jazz processing and moments of rock disinhibition was very much its own. It will be interesting to hear where it is going when the promised second album is released later this year.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
