David Stapleton Quartet - Catching Sunlight

Edition records: - EDN 1005

Dave Stapleton, piano;
Neil Yates, trumpet;
Paula Gardiner, bass;
Elliot Bennett, drums
and the Lunar Saxophone Quartet.

I will not be tempted to underrate Dave Stapleton’s new album, due to be released on November 10th: I think it is, simply, brilliant. I reviewed Dismantling the Waterfall by Dave Stapleton and Matthew Bourne in June this year (http://www.cardiffjazz.org/kccd-waterfall.html) noting that the tracks on that album of non-figurative duets were named after lines of a Julie Tippetts poem. The titles on Catching Sunlight are also Tippetts-derived and with a hint of cinematic allusions – the album is sub-titled Music for an Imaginary Film. The Quartet is the usual rhythm section with the addition of fine trumpeter Neil Yates, but the voice of the new does not stop there. The presence of the Lunar Saxophone Quartet is not accidental as it commissioned Dave Stapleton to write a long work for four saxophones and piano in June 2007 and this is the result.

The Lunar Saxophone Quartet won an ensemble award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund to help fund this project. The LSQ will be appearing on Welsh soprano Shan Cothi's radio show on BBC Radio Wales on Sunday 14th of December '08 at 18.30 and will be performing live, chatting to Shan and choosing some of their favourite pieces to be played during the hour long interview. The LSQ is Joel Garthwaite – Soprano, Hannah Riches – Alto, Lewis Evans – Tenor and Lauren Hamer – Baritone.

Despite the track titles, which do seem to convey the notion of a cinematic theme through their associatively descriptive nuances, the music itself does not come over as being either particularly sequential or theme-based. It does seem to depend on and move around driving, improvised piano introductions and complementary accompaniments that may be repeated until Neil Yates’ solo trumpet intervenes or the richness of the LSQ’s textural motifs are laid over and under David’s ever present powerful rhythmic energy and tight rhythmic structure.

Here is some of the best new jazz around, both in conception and writing and its performance is exquisite. It really is brilliant.

Reviewed by

ken cheetham
November 2008