5 November 2010 **** Front Page
As a regular feature on these pages, I have been following the careers of those British and Finnish jazz musicians who many years ago took part in Polar Jazz, a series of concerts in Britain, organised by the Finnish Institute in London.
One of those musicians, saxophonist Ed Jones, appears on the Killer Shrimp album Whatever Sincerely: Tales from the Baltic Wharf (33 Jazz). John Fordham of The Guardian had this to say about this CD:
"UK quartet Killer Shrimp like the fastmoving, bluesy 50s jazz idiom known as hard bop, so there are plenty of lissome trumpet breaks and dry-toned sermons here from founder members Damon Brown on trumpet and Ed Jones on reeds. However, the band also unequivocally declare their commitment to the 21st-century. While the horns reflect tradition, they also sustain a sense of restlessness by changing tone and shape over blistering drumming from Scottish firebrand Alyn Cosker. Bass clarinet ostinatos and thundersheet sounds announce Brown's Art Blakeyesque Lef An Lee, and Jones could be a classic hardbopper like Hank Mobley on the bluesy, funk-shuffling It Never Happened. But Brown's ska-swaying Summer – with its eerie diversions into windy electronic flurries and sonar bleeps – is more modern, as is the Headhunters bass feel under long, jazz-riffy chords on Cornerhouse. There's a slightly restless quality to this music, but the superb rhythm section of Cosker and bassist Mark Hodgson keeps everything cooking – and Brown's long-lined solo on the closing swinger Roughneck Blues could trade phrases with Wynton Marsalis without blinking. " (The Guardian, 4 November 2010)
Here are links to previous Polar Jazz related articles:
Here are links to earlier articles about British-Finnish jazz collaboration: