Jazz breaking news: A journey from Ambitronix to Ahmad Jamal

Ahmad Jamal’s juniors by more than three decades, drummer-producer Steve Argüelles and keyboardist-mixer Benoît Delbecq appeared as the evocatively titled Ambitronix.

On paper the two events were not related. However, as different as some of the timbres emanating from the two spaces were, there was a notable continuum in terms of the character and thought processes of the players. It boiled down to richness of mood and considerable imagination in the manipulation of instruments. The means deployed to achieve this were, at times, relatively simple.

In the case of Ambitronix it was Argüelles putting down sticks and brushes and applying his palms to the tom and snare, creating a dry pitter-patter which was highly effective amid the flow of murky sub-bass and electronic flak. In the case of Herlin Riley, Jamal’s formidable drummer, it was the moment he clamped his hand on the centre of the crash cymbal and caressed it artfully while hitting quavers off the rim with his stick. There was an audible intake of breath in the concert hall for the novelty of sound and visual spectacle. The cymbal became vocal. It was as if Riley had drawn a whisper from under his fingers.

Whether or not this was the height of simplicity or complexity was beside the point, and the same could be said of Argüelles stroking the drum. Each creative impulse contributed significantly to the dynamics and above all tonal contrasts in the performances. Riley’s whimsical ‘cymbalophonics’ acted as a humourous apostrophe in the conversation between himself and percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had liberally deployed wordless vocal and bird whistles to complement timbales, bongos, shakers and congas. There was thus a levity, an airiness that underscored the unhurried, relaxed pace set by Jamal and double bassist Reginald Veal, who continually worked the sensual rumba grooves trademarked on the iconic ‘Poinciana’ into a gentle trance. Loping ostinato lines resulted in rows of nodding heads that steadied when the pianist held a dramatic tremolo over several leisurely beats.

As for Delbecq and Argüelles, they proved that the power of music can indeed be the single note that acquires a substantial emotional weight for the moment when it appears, be it as a logical, organic climax to a string of ideas or as an unseen, certainly unexpected point of departure for another sequence. Delbecq, working a synthesizer, sampler and looping station that enabled him to capture sounds ‘on the fly’, prodded towards ambient and crypto-techno, though his greatest achievement was to play lines that were often tightly coiled, rhythmically punchy but nonetheless lithe and liquid, so that they moistened Arguelles’ crisp, jumpy percussion. For all their parallels, the two gigs differed insofar as Jamal’s quartet played tunes. ‘This Is The Life’, ‘Autumn Rain’ and ‘Blue Moon’ made it clear that the pianist is a great romantic in ‘American classical music’, who crucially averts crass sentimentality. Yet one of the noteworthy images of the night chimed with the Ambitronix gig. On several occasions Jamal would rest his arm above the keyboard to signal a need for pause and reflection. Argüelles did the same, letting silence exert its quiet but monumental force.

– Kevin Le Gendre