The Discreet Charm of the Disturbingly Brilliant – Empirical at Jazz Hastings
Victoria Kingham
Friday, December 6, 2024
The multi-award winning group were on top of their complex musical game with guest vibist Jonny Mansfield
Coruscating is perhaps an overused word in the context of jazz writing, but it’s easy to see why. It’s rhythmic, internally balanced, sibilant – an onomatopoeic description of music that’s difficult to pin down, but driving, exciting, unexpected.
Empirical’s music has rightly been called ‘sophisticated’. Their take on Dolphy’s ‘Gazelloni’ for instance: “We’ve been playing this for fifteen years” explained bassist and founder-member Tom Farmer, “and it’s never come out the same way twice”. Indeed it’s hard to imagine any of their material (mostly their own) coming out the same way twice: one of its key features is a highly responsive, extended improvisational structure which seems to the listener only barely contained. This effect is partly due to the complexity of the melodies, and wouldn’t be possible in the hands of less gifted musicians. They pay homage to Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Ornette, who extended the boundaries of jazz definition; they succeed in the 21st century in continuing that search for the unexplored.
Hyper-aware of each other’s inventions, core members Farmer, Shaney Forbes, and Nathaniel Facey have played together since 2007. While the instrumental line-up could be called conventional, melodic control flows between them with an illusion of ease that is possible only because of their exceptional individual abilities. Facey (professor!) demonstrates a rare, glistening, cascading fluency on alto, drummer Forbes plays fast, tight, impeccable patterns and melodic lines – his prime solo, in their final number, was a triumph of controlled brilliance. Farmer’s bass playing is melodic, intricate, dramatic. The input of guest vibes player, Jonny Mansfield, was marvellously responsive, restrained, elegant.
There’s a dedication there, a search for honesty of output, to make a difference, that is always characteristic of the best jazz. And there’s a philosophy behind this combo that makes them stand out from the crowd – one of their album titles was Tabula Rasa, indicating the blank slate (of John Locke’s original philosophical Empiricism) on which they could put down new forms. Their latest album, Wonder is the Beginning, is taken from Socrates’ “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom”. Let them keep on wondering, keep on beginning, and keep on presenting the – coruscating.
Photos by Greg Heath
