Posts Tagged ‘Eric Dolphy’

Empirical provided an excellent start to the Birmingham Jazz season at the CBSO Centre last night.  This was also the first date of their tour to promote the Out ‘n’ In album that is to be released later this month on the Naim label and which is dedicated to their original music inspired by the saxophonist, flautist and bass clarinettist Eric Dolphy, one of the great American players of the 1960s.

To be honest, I wasn’t too sure about Empirical when they first started as a band; they seemed a bit too retro for my taste.  But this version of the band with alto saxophonist Nathanial Facey, bass player Tom Farmer and drummer Shaney Forbes there from the original band now joined by Lewis Wright on vibes is excellent.  Lewis Wright’s vibes really add an extra mellow layer to the overall sound and I also really like the focus on Dolphy.  The mid to late 60s was a particularly fruitful period for American jazz ; there was the second great Miles Davis Quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams, the Coltrane Quartet and Blue Note putting out a whole range of jazz that had moved on from the hard bop movement of the late 50s and early 60s incorporating elements of free and modal jazz.  Artists like Wayne Shorter before he joined Miles, Andrew Hill, Dolphy of course and Herbie Hancock’s first albums as a leader, Joe Henderson etc.  This was a relatively short movement that kind of died away with the development of jazz rock, but it is an area that is definitely worth revisiting.  So I really enjoyed the way Empirical presented their own interpretation of some of the key music of that period, namely Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch CD plus other aspects of his music.

I was particularly impressed by the integration of the group, but also very much by Nathanial Facey’s strength as a soloist.  He has clearly studied that era of the music and Dolphy in particular in great depth, but also definitely has his own voice.  Also pleasing to see and hear how well the music was presented with good clear announcements from different members of the band and a willingness to engage with the audience after the gig.   Great stuff!

See also Peter Bacon’s review here on his Jazz Breakfast site

Empirical make their debut in Birmingham Friday night and launch our autumn programme at the CBSO Centre.  Empirical are a young band that has focussed on the jazz tradition and impressed with the excellent presentation of their shows.  They are into the tradition, but that does not imply that they are stuck in the rigours of bebop and long solos; on this tour they are focussing on the music of Eric Dolphy, the slightly maverick, but wonderful saxophonist and bass clarinettist whose album Out To Lunch and work with Charlie Mingus and John Coltrane were key parts of the fascinating music that was being created in the 1960s.  I can’t resist mentioning that I saw Dolphy at the Birmingham Hippodrome with Coltrane in the early 60s!!.  Empirical has changed its lineup a bit in recent months and now has Lewis Wright on vibes joining Nathanial Facey on alto sax, Tom Farmer on bass and Shaney Forbes on drums.  Nathanial Facey is a very bright prospect and was brilliant in Jack DeJohnette’s Jerwood Allstars at Cheltenham this year.   The concert begins at 8pm this Friday and tickets are available from 0121-767-4050 or on the Symphony Hall website .

Tony

I would just like to pay a brief tribute to George Russell, the composer and arranger, whose obituary is in today’s Guardian.  Compositions such as Cubana Be and Cubana Bop written in the 1940s for the Dizzy Gillespie Big band and featuring the Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo, and albums such as Ezz-thetics with Eric Dolphy and Steve Swallow are amongst my favourites and also have had a major influence on the development of jazz.  I have a very strong memory of his Living Time Orchestra appearing for Birmingham Jazz at the former Triangle Arts Centre with a group of both American and British players – a very young Django Bates was in that band.  That was a great gig and one of the best BJ has presented in its 30+ year history!

Tony