Music / British jazz
Time for a chat?
All photos by Alex Bonney
When Bristol jazz trumpeter Nick Malcolm met Derby-based vibraphone player Corey Mwamba at the London Jazz Festival something clicked. “I felt really at home with him straight away and I just knew I wanted to do something with this guy” Nick recalls. “And then Trish (Brown) called from St George’s and offered me a duo gig so I immediately called Corey … so that kind of makes her the midwife for the album!” That was back in 2015, and their late night ‘after show’ session proved to be a spellbinding success for audience and players alike.
is needed now More than ever
The album in question is Chat, released on Nick’s own Green Eyes Records label in November 2020 but recorded shortly after their St George’s show. It’s a meditative kind of music, the trumpet and vibes flowing together through a variety of moods. The music has a carefulness about it like well-crafted compositions, yet amazingly it is all fully improvised. They recorded it in London in the home studio of trumpeter Alex Bonney and it proved ridiculously straightforward. “We just turned up, had a coffee, turned on the microphones and started playing. I don’t think we played much more than is on the record, it was as simple as that.”
Well, if you’ve spent years honing your skills as a musician and improviser and pick someone equally skilful you could call it ‘simple’, but there’s not many players who could do that and come up with so tidy and musically satisfying an outcome. Nick reflects how he’s learnt over time to relax about making things up on the spot: “I used to put a lot of pressure on myself that the first thing I would play should be really impressive. But I’ve learnt it’s better to start small, have a little play and be open to where things might lead. With Corey it feels very natural, like spending time together, hanging out – a human interaction.” Like having a Chat? “Exactly. There’s a sort of purity about the interaction between two people if it’s someone you feel at home with, who you trust. And the thing about Corey – he’s a phenomenal virtuoso player with ridiculous amounts of musical knowledge but he wears all that very lightly, playfully.”
Corey Mwamba is, in fact, a very busy man with a background in academic music, an important role as a music promoter and he also presents a weekly improvised music programme on BBC Radio 3. Disappointingly for Nick, however, since they made the recordings for Chat Corey has announced his retirement from live performance: “Well I’m sad about it,” Nick admits. “These connections with another musician don’t come along all the time. But I respect him for doing it if that’s what he wants. He’s still writing music and he says he’s still up for recording, so maybe …”
And, given their evident chemistry, it would certainly be a shame if Nick and Corey don’t collaborate again musically but, in the meantime, the light touch conversational music of Chat offers a fine meditative soundtrack to our continuing unusual times as well as a masterclass in improvisational empathy.
You can hear and buy Chat on the Green Eyes Records Bandcamp page
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