Saxophonist Ben Bryden is a product of the admirably fertile jazz nursery that has seen Dumfries supply a number of notable talents in recent years and before moving to New York to study on the Manhattan School of Music's Master of Jazz programme he earned the distinction of being the first saxophonist to achieve a first class degree from Birmingham Conservatoire.
He's kept the Scottish flag flying in New York, by recording the handsomely packaged CD 1957 Flying Scot, a homage to the once much-coveted bicycle whose track Saltire Badge opened this latest instalment of Bridge Music's Thursday jazz concert series.
The original plan here was for Bryden to present his multinational Bright Noise quintet but an Awol guitarist meant Bryden and fellow saxophonist, the Belgian Steven Delannoye had to play their nicely intertwined melodies without the accompaniment of a harmony instrument. In the circumstances bassist Tim Thornton did a fine job, his full-toned lines providing a substantial but mobile support system that added to the melodic content of compositions drawing on indie rock almost as much as the jazz tradition for inspiration.
Bryden has a lovely firm tone and a sure, thoughtful, attractive improvising style and he and Delannoye, with his more restless approach, complement each other well, building a collective momentum that suffered a little at times from drummer Martin Kruemmling's rather fussy, staccato contributions. The romantic sounding Nowhere, the spring-heeled, jaunty Bright Noise and an imaginatively unusual take on the jazz standard My Shining Hour nonetheless offered convincing evidence that on his future trips home Bryden will be a talent deserving of wider attention.
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