Music / British jazz
Review: Henry Spencer’s Juncture, Beacon Lantern
The new look Lantern was respectably full for this latest Jazzata gig, part of local jazz hero Ian Storrer’s season celebrating forty years promoting jazz in and around Bristol. While there will be a few old favourites coming – Andy Sheppard is promised for the Autumn – Ian is still supporting the fresh generations of jazz talent as this gig testified. Trumpeter Henry Spencer first appeared with his 2017 debut album The Reasons Don’t Change but it is the newly released follow-up The Defector that has really drawn critical acclaim.
Juncture: Matt Robinson, Henry Spencer, Ant Law (pic: Tony Benjamin)
Henry’s band Juncture has usually been a quintet but it was immediately apparent that, for this performance at least, they were a quartet without regular bassist Andrew Robb. In the opening number – a plangent ballad called Eulogy – it became clear that bass duties would be shared between pianist Matt Robinson using a mini-keyboard gizmo and guitarist Ant Law who had come equipped with an eight-string guitar. They coped nicely passing the job to and fro throughout the tunes but the added complication did seem to inhibit the band’s sound coming together in the first set
Juncture: Henry Spencer, Ant Law (pic: Tony Benjamin)
That said the individual performances were always solid, with Jamie Murray’s eloquent drumming a notable feature from the get-go and Henry’s trumpet an effusive and versatile presence often counterposed against Ant Law’s combination of weighted lyricism and bedazzlingly fluent cascades. The two made a nice contrast on stage, too, with the trumpeters kinetic body language balanced by the implacable stolidity of the guitarist. The tunes mostly had the feel of well-crafted pop songs in structure – Henry has spoken of the ‘unsung lyrics’ behind many of them – serving as the basis for a series of impressive solos. The rocky Not My Country saw Ant’s guitar flail like Pete Townsend before a particularly frenzied cadenza, Matt Robinson’s flurrying piano break shone on The Defector, feeding into a cinematic climax built over urgent drums, and Henry’s nicely modulated trumpet tone hovered somewhere between Miles Davis and Arve Henriksen on the well-tempered Joanne’s Diary.
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Juncture: Henry Spencer (pic: Tony Benjamin)
After the interval things seemed to gel a bit more, however, with the sense of four musicians relaxing into their music together. Despite its title Hopeless/Heartless was a warm ballad opened by relaxed flugelhorn cushioned with easy-going bass and drums and rippling piano. It was followed by The Survivor and The Descendent, a brasher four-to-the-floor groover with stabbing piano, yelping trumpet and roiling drums. The latter’s energy fed through into Still Open To Confusion, its vigorous drum solo introduction leading to a well asserted groove with another scorching guitar solo, a fluent piano trio and a lush trumpet flourish all embellishing its tight collectivity. After that exuberant encore there was no doubting that Henry Spencer has a compelling voice, both as tunesmith and trumpeter, and Juncture is a great combination of talents to showcase his work.
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