Spontaneous inventions among Bristol Composers Collective
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
“It’s going to be a bit different tonight,” said saxophonist Kevin Figes as he introduced the first composition of the night, a slow chant like melody unfolding and twisting as his alto and Nick Dover’s throaty tenor blended beautifully with Simon Preston’s inventive percussion embellishing Will Harris and Dale Hambridge’s accompaniment on bass and keyboard.
It is always a bit different at the monthly performances of the Bristol Composers Collective. The cast of players rotates, overlapping but never quite the same twice. There is always original and freshly composed music, a rule this loose collective of Bristol based musicians imposed on themselves when they started just over six months ago, motivated by the desire to experiment and try things out without the pressure of having to hustle for gigs for a whole band or fill a whole evening with original music. Once they’d been galvanised by a speculative email from bass player Greg Cordez, the monthly performances started at the Wardrobe Theatre above the White Bear pub just off the city centre, inviting a donation from audiences to cover their room hire costs.
The performances usually feature two or three short sets of compositions from a couple of the pool of players who have signed up. On this particular evening with a late change of plans, as intended feature composer Jake McMurchie jetted off to start Get the Blessing’s short European tour, there were a handful of writers and some thoughtfully scripted more spontaneous compositions.
After Figes’ opener Nick Dover led a quartet through a tricky little rocky groover all snappy percussion and chordless harmony etched out by the jagged lines he rasped out shadowed by Hambridge’s right hand on the keyboard. Then Emily Wright’s violin and Hannah Marshall’s cello augmented the ensemble and the vibe became tumbling clattering full bodied harmonies underpinning soaring melodies, a tune called 'Swimmers vs Non-Swimmers'. Jeff Spencer changed the mood with ‘That’s what they make dreams for’ and 'Anti Freeze'. Two improv pieces with carefully scripted rules, which after a quick bit of on-stage coaching resulted in thrilling performances. After the last racing quavers of 'Anti Freeze' faded away we took a break.
The creative, collaborative swirl of this young but now established collective is exciting to witness and each performance is a joy in itself. The next one is on 17 March when Jeff Spencer features a set of new material with the band Nightjar and subsequent dates are 14 April and 12 May.
– Mike Collins (story and photo)