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| The Impossible Gentlemen. Photo credit: Roger Thomas |
(Queen Elizabeh Hall, paert of LJF, November 12th 2011. Review by Patrick Hadfield)
The Impossible Gentlemen took to the stage without one of their members – rather than support himself, the group’s usual bass player, Steve Swallow, was replaced for the evening by Steve Rodby.
This change in personnel didn’t seem to have distracted the others. Their music was full of energy across a dynamic range spanning brooding, contemplative piano through gentle swing to roaring jazz-funk. Despite the changing moods, the music had a cohesive feel often missing from other “supergroups”, the other members – Briton’s Gwilym Simcock on piano and Mike Walker on guitar, and superlative American drummer Adam Nussbaum on drums – played with great sensitivity. The whole band excelled in their short set.
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| Steve Swallow and Chris Cheek Photo credit: Roger Thomas |
The Steve Swallow Quintet suffered in comparison. This was restrained, gentle music, “chamber jazz” suited to the concert hall, but it lacked energy to fill the hall with sound. Carla Bley on Hammond B3 organ often played the bass lines, freeing up Swallow to play some beautiful solos high in the register, but she rarely took solos herself. Jorge Rossy’s drumming was at times so soft to be inaudible. The music felt complex and highly structured, giving soloists little opportunity to stretch out, and seemed set at one level when compared to the Impossible Gentlemen’s dynamism.
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