CD Review: Mark Donlon - Kashasha

Mark Donlon Kashasha
(Fuzzy Moon FUZ007. CD review by Chris Parker)

Pianist Mark Donlon's previous album was a solo-piano CD, Ashia (F-IRE, 2007), described at the time as 'limpid, elegant, thoughtful and gently mellifluous … a rich, atmospheric album designed for slow savouring', but on this one he is joined by bassist Mick Hutton, drummer Gene Calderazzo and occasionally by saxophonist Julian Siegel.

The above adjectives all still apply to Donlon's playing, though as the opening (title) track incorporates a vigorous latin passage (Donlon is a latin music specialist, being the pianist in Roberto Pla's band), and Calderazzo in particular brings all his crackling energy to the proceedings, there is more variety, in both tone and tempo, on this album than was evident on its predecessor (the centrepiece of which was a three-piece epitaph for Michael Brecker).

On both the trio and quartet tracks, Donlon's rock-solid technique (he is one of the UK's most celebrated teachers and runs the CUK big band) is placed at the service of a pleasing variety of original compositions (plus Kenny Wheeler's 'The Jigsaw'), but a special highlight of Kashasha is his visit to one of the staples of his live performances, the Young/Washington classic 'My Foolish Heart', which (appropriately for a self-admonishing song along the lines of Cole Porter's 'Get Out of Town') receives a suitably affecting, tender treatment, laced with a hint of determination.

Such subtlety and intelligence are the hallmarks of this carefully judged and finely balanced album, and with Siegel addressing his solos with all his customary sophisticated swagger and Hutton also eloquent in his numerous solo contributions, this is a rich and absorbing set, and a fine addition to an increasingly impressive series of CDs from Fuzzy Moon.

Kashasha is available from Proper Music

CD Review: Julian Siegel Quartet - Urban Theme Park

Julian Siegel Quartet - Urban Theme Park
(Basho Records SRCD 35-2. CD Review by Chris Parker

Whether he's playing with the jazz-rock band, Partisans, he co-leads with guitarist Phil Robson, or with more mainstream projects: his Anglo-American trio (completed by Joey Baron and Greg Cohen) and hisquartet (which produced 2002's Close-Up), Nottingham-born reedsman Julian Siegel simply exudes class and thoughtful elegance.

While never a showy, gung-ho soloist determined to demonstrate his technical facility at every opportunity, he is none the less a completely assured front man for a band like the one on this recording (long-time associate Liam Noble on piano, bassist Oli Hayhurst, drummer Gene Calderazzo), not only firing off a series of intelligent, cogent but powerful solos on tenor, soprano, bass clarinet and clarinet, but also providing a tight, sensitively interactive band with nine varied and absorbing original compositions.

It might be all too easy to overlook such an ungimmicky figure – his style is not to swagger through the tricksiest of time signatures, nor to overload his pieces with sudden blasts of electronic noise or fusillades of hip-hop – but Siegel (like the ever-resourceful Noble, who throughout this album proves himself once again the perfect partner for the saxophonist) has gained his place at the centre of UK jazz by sheer talent and musicianship.

He is as confident in the field of hard bop (Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson his more obvious influences) as he is in slightly more outré styles: ('Game of Cards' borrows its form from Stravinsky, 'Drone Job' sparingly utilises electronics etc. , and Urban Theme Park is a polished, subtle but engagingly vigorous piece of work.

An early candidate for CD of the Year.