Eyeshutight
Eyeshutight
Jazz Bar, Edinburgh
Rob Adams
The compacting of words in this piano, bass and drums trio's name mirrors the approach its members take to constructing a set. Ideas are stated and move on into another mood, then another, and it turns out that we've been listening to two separate compositions - or maybe three, maybe four - merged together.
It's a method that, at its best, works well. There's certainly no shortage of ideas, most of which seem to originate from double bassist Paul Baxter, but the role of leader, or at least cue-giver, often falls to pianist Johnny Tomlinson, with drummer Kris Wright shaping and shoving the pulse along with a mostly quiet precision.
The three musicians got together in Leeds and have certainly made an impression in the north of England. Scotland has been a bit slower to pick up on them but now that they've played at the Jazz Bar, followed the next night by a visit to arguably Scotland's best environment for both playing and listening to jazz in its widest definition - the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen - they might well become more frequent visitors north of the Border.
They opened with a piano figure that sounded distinctly oriental, and as the beat shifted emphasis before they picked up a tight riffing sequence it quickly became clear that they have a strong musical understanding. Wright uses sticks, brushes and beaters, or a combination of all three, and Tomlinson is as likely to work on a hymn-like melody as strum the piano strings as the mood intensifies.
There are raw elements and a few intonation issues, but when Tomlinson gets into his solo building stride, or all three gather a collective momentum, it's a winning sound.
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