Steve Plews/Ed Jones: Derelict

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Steve Plews (p)
Ed Jones (ts, ss)

Label:

ASC

February/2014

Catalogue Number:

ASCCD143

RecordDate:

date not stated

Saxophonist Ed Jones' tough tenor sound has been a solid presence on the UK gig circuit since the acid jazz boom of the late-1980s, and he's played sideman to some serious heavyweights, including Horace Silver. Steve Plews is a pianist as comfortable in contemporary classical as he is in jazz. Here, the duo throw their combined experiences into the mix to create a suite of freely improvised vignettes, with surprisingly outré results. On the title track, Jones' thin, rasping harmonics encourage swells of pointillist piano tapping; on ‘Swatu’, the tenor swoops and hovers like a gruff bee, while Plews rattles out distracted scrap-metal percussion; on ‘Corpse’, Plews' prepared piano thuds, rattles and buzzes like a Harry Partch construction; while ‘Broken Haiku’ sounds like a duet for koto and shakuhachi. There's some neat overdubbing too, with the tangled soprano and piano of ‘Mrs Dirty’ swirled into a phantom free-jazz trio by tight, fizzing drum work. With most of these sketches clocking in at just a couple of minutes, one can't help wishing the two explorers would set off on an extended journey that would enable them to get seriously out there.

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