Fergus Quill Trio: Zoop Zoop
Author: Tony Benjamin
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Fergus Quill (b) |
Label: |
Tight Lines |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2021 |
Media Format: |
DL |
Catalogue Number: |
TL 01T2021 |
RecordDate: |
Rec. 25-26 July 2020 |
According to Facebook, the Fergus Quill Trio is ‘a traditional piano trio’ and, inasmuch as there are three of them playing piano, drum and bass, they sort of are, Listening to the eclectic pick'n'mix of styles on Zoop Zoop you might be tempted to ask: ‘But what tradition, exactly?’
Recorded in one night at Leeds’ Eiger Studios, the album starts straightforwardly with ‘Who Shot Pinetop?’, This boogie-woogie flavoured workout, with its jam session vibe enhanced by a decidedly wonky piano, is then followed by Indo/spiritual jazz (‘Sun Dream’), energetic Flamenco-improv (‘Organ Bellows’), and the Methenyesque guitar tune ‘Not A Lot There’ featuring guest Will Lakin whose tongue-in-cheek conventionality does battle with Nico Widdowson's disruptive piano, There's ‘Echo Location, a short realisation of a circular graphic score by violinist Florence Rutherfood-Jones, that was probably lots of fun to do, followed by the disrupted hard bop ‘Itchy Scratchy’ providing a flamboyant drum solo showcase for Theo Goss, Things close with an energetic reading of Sun Ra's ‘Watusi’ that gives Fergus Quill's precise and eloquent bass some space, leaps into a brisk Montuno variant and is resoundingly finished by the drummer.
It's clear that NYJO protege Fergus – currently being mentored by Orphy Robinson – takes playing (in both senses of the word) seriously, and this entertainingly chirpy album has a big grin on its face throughout
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