According To The Sound: Pitch

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

James Morton (as)
Otto Hashmi (el b)
Jim Barr (b)
Patrick Case (g, syn)
Pasquale Votino (b)
Sam Shotaka (ts)
Gary Alesbrook (t)
Alex Hutchings (el b)
Mike Rodriguez (t)
Kaisa Mäensivu (b)
Nick Malcolm (t)
Justin Brown (d)
Jared Schonig (d)
David Adewumi (t)
Adam Parry-Davies (p)
James Carter (ts)

Label:

Losen

July/2024

Media Format:

CD, DL

Catalogue Number:

LOS2902

RecordDate:

Rec. date not stated

Although for obvious reasons remote recording took off during the pandemic, it is thankfully no longer the only option. But Birmingham’s Parry-Davies and Bristol’s Case have retained it as a working process on their third outing for the Losen label. The duo’s method is to compose a huge number of tunes through improvisation, select the best of the bunch, then add Bristol-based musicians like Morton and Alesbrook, plus New Yorkers such as Carter and Rodriguez. The result is a kind of collage, in which the guests don’t just play written parts but add their own compositional ideas.

There are moments of beauty, such as the Getz-like tenor intro to ‘Matanzas Sun’ and Parry-Davies’ plangent keyboard excursions on ‘Across the Water’. Elsewhere (eg, ‘Set Peace’) the horn interventions are often sweet and melodic, although occasionally misguided: in a studio it’s easy to ask a musician to do another take, and to gently explain why it’s needed. Remotely, however, communication is more difficult, and people can get the wrong end of the stick. The music can come across as directionless at times, but it’s always strongly atmospheric and tuneful, and the added electronica keeps it sounding fresh.

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