Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project - The Eye of the Duck

Edition Records: EDN1012
Released 2009

Dave Kane - bass
Matthew Bourne - fender rhodes
Joost Hendricks - drums
Simon Kaylor - tenor saxophone
Simon Beddoe - trumpet

It was in November 2005 that I previewed Polar Bear’s appearance at CaféJAZZ with the words ‘we are standing on the edge’ (borrowed from Radiohead) and ‘a new and burning alertness’. This has since been further evidenced by new music from the pens of Matthew Bourne, Geoff Eales and David Stapleton and that’s just three from the Edition label: there are many other musicians and bands of course who also stand at that edge.

I have no hesitation in adding a further contribution from Edition by introducing Dave Kane’s The Eye of the Duck. All nine tunes on this are written by Dave and I can assure you that diversity is the name of the game, from the crafty, conniving funk of the first track Biff, which actually seems to echo some of Polar Bear’s stuff, to the extraordinary mix of control and restraint overlaid with an autonomic tenor solo that threatens to play its own tune through incongruent smears and honks, though preserving a fragile beauty. The Berber-ish The Gorman and the belligerent Shut Up Sit Down are found in between, as disparate as cheese and chalk and between them illustrating the range of Kane’s skill in writing both melody and rhythm.

This is an outstanding album from an adventurous, energetic, contemporary jazz band which clearly loathes smugness, preferring engagement to notice, commitment to ennui. It is a part of that essential cutting edge to jazz without which we may all wither away in complacency. I would love to hear them live.

Reviewed by

ken cheetham
2009