Music / Jazz
Review: Martin Speake/Ethan Iverson Quartet, St George’s
In the interests of breaking boundaries or making a statement sometimes jazz goes out of its way to be difficult to understand or inhospitable on the ear. And sometimes, in the interests of pleasing a mainstream audience, jazz soft pedals, airbrushing out the challenges of the music to provide something reassuringly bland. But get together players who know they have technical mastery of their instruments and let them play whatever pleases them and, sometimes, you get a masterclass in jazz elegance that combines intelligence and entertainment in equal measure. This acoustic concert was exactly one of those occasions.
At first sight, however, the coming together of Martin Speake and Ethan Iverson seemed an unlikely pairing – the first a sumptuously-toned post-bop alto saxophonist, the second formerly the powerhouse pianist from the abrasive Bad Plus trio. Perhaps for that reason opening number Becky had a formative, exploratory looseness that slowly took shape. It was a tease, however, because Charlie’s Wig, which followed straight away, was an invigoratingly tight reading of the Charlie Parker tune in proper bebop style with both piano and sax solos playing by the rules with assurance.
Fred Thomas, James Maddren and Martin Speake
That number gave F-IRE collective bass player Fred Thomas the chance to establish his soft-touch voice and great sense of rhythm both of which would run diffidently (and impressively) throughout the gig. It also brought out the skills of James Maddren on drums as he caught and fielded the soloists phrasing in neat anticipatory flourishes. In the acoustic setting Maddren’s self-control as drummer was vital – for the measured balled Dancing In The Dark he started with light hand tapping on the kit before bringing in brushes behind Martin Speake’s meandering sax as it drifted around the well-known standard.
is needed now More than ever
Ethan Iverson
Things sharpened up a little on a tribute to US drumming legend Ed Blackwell, though ironically this piece was driven by the drummers metronomic left hand tapping out a rigid 6-time rhythm. The piece closed with a charmingly woven bass and drum duet that was rich in melody and neatly timed. It was on the Rollins-esque bop of Spring Dance, however, that Ethan Iverson let slip his otherwise impassive and restrained presentation in an angular solo, left hand crashing down in occasional explosions while the other broke up rippling runs with jabs and stutters as he bounced off his piano stool.
James Maddren, Martin Speake
He soon restored his inscrutable stolidity, and even slipped into a lounge mode on a blues number that had the feel of an after-hours jam session, albeit with top range players. Martin Speake showcased his free-er side on June the 2nd, an anthemic ballad that unravelled as the sax line wandered farther and wider, with roiling drums, grinding bass and declamatory piano chords. The piece’s boisterousness stood out in an evening that had mainly been so well-behaved, and heralded a brisk hard-bop encore that rounded things off nicely with an old-school drum solo that finally unleashed the equally well-behaved James Maddren.
Ethan Iverson and Fred Thomas
Whatever questions the Speake/Iverson collaboration might have initially raised had been thoroughly answered in an enjoyable set that had cherry-picked half a century of jazz stylings without ever putting a foot wrong.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
