Music / Bass
Review: The Thing/Konstrukt/Calcine Quartet
No doubt about it – there’s a growing audience in Bristol willing to come out for the free-er end of improvised jazz and this respectably packed gig was the latest proof. The Exchange is a perfect venue, too, inheriting the free-thinking mantle of The Croft and offering a suitably gloomy standing room vibe that enhances the music’s outsider credentials. Happily, the three bands on offer delivered a nicely balanced range of style and content that confounded any sense that ‘it all sounds the same’.
Calcine Quartet’s Rebecca Sneddon in full flight
Locals the Calcine Quartet gave what was perhaps the evening’s most orthodox version of free jazz, wrestling with the dilemma of continuity versus surprise through a properly democratic approach that demanded much of the players in exchange for their musical freedom. The music was more about texture and dynamics than rhythm or melody, with impressive saxophonist Rebecca Sneddon switching between alto and tenor to contribute harsh stutters or raucous howls while yet being unafraid to add a moment of lyrical melody to a space where Roger Telford’s scraped cymbals blended with bowed bass swoops from Dominic Lash and Matthew Griggs’ quietly lowering guitar feedback. In a few moments it had shifted into a shattering hullabaloo of hammered guitar and racketing drums that recalled a sack of outraged marmosets, but that’s just how it should be.
Konstrukt running through some Middle Eastern modalities
The musical roots of Turkish quintet Konstrukt were immediately apparent in plangent gembré basslines and the reedy baying of the mey pipes. There were clear Middle Eastern modalities in much of their music, with occasional moments of acoustic folkiness underpinned by bare-handed drumming, but when in full flood with electric guitar, saxophone and electronic percussion the drummer’s disciplined flailing gave an old-school jazz rock feel that recalled Robert Wyatt’s glory days with Soft Machine.
is needed now More than ever
Now, here’s The Thing …
Konstrukt’s ten years of playing together showed in the band’s empathy and a well-grounded integrity of sound that was, however, topped by Swedish headline trio The Thing who exploded into immediate action with all the intensity (and some of the slapstick comedy) of a three-way arm wrestling bout. Something about their music seemed to raise the room temperature in ways the Exchange’s ineffectual ceiling fans could only muddle with. Mostly all three musicians were running at full speed through swerving lines of thought that nonetheless led to oddly quiet moments of restraint, like Paal Nilssen-Love’s drum solo elegantly constructed on hi-hat only, or anthem saxophone incantations from Mats Gustafsson reminiscent of free jazz legend Albert Ayler.
Like all the best jazz, what elevated the music of The Thing was a genuine emotional story expressed through spontaneous creation, making it a living thing rather than merely a technical construction. Whether much of the largely static audience got this or not, it was evident on the musicians’ faces, with bass player Ingebrigt Håker Flaten especially expressive of his enjoyment throughout. Alternating between electric and acoustic bass he used the former to impart a rock ethos that offered glimpses of the band’s collaborations with Thurston Moore, James Blood Ulmer and others, but in truth any such cheap thrills were only the icing on the cake of this fine jazz (ins)urgency.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
