Music / contemporary jazz
Review: Wallpaper Music, St George’s
There’s something restless about Kevin Figes‘ imagination that keeps him coming up with fresh projects so it’s good to see him digging deeper into Wallpaper Music with a second album, launched at this gig. Like its predecessor it’s a chocolate box mixture of ideas that holds together musically through a fusion of contemporary jazz and retro-prog. Echoes of 70s bands like Henry Cow and Soft Machine flicker into sight, as well as the poppier influence of Soft Machine’s Kevin Ayers. It’s a fine mix of the artful and the playful.
Wallpaper Music: Brigitte Beraha, Kevin Figes, Jim Blomfield, Ashley John Long, Mark Whitlam (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The gig went through the album in track order, slipping in just one from the debut that sat well in the company. As ever with Kevin’s compositions there are a fair few tricky time signatures and a lot of tightly written passages so it is impressive how faithfully the music was performed. It’s also impressive how, despite the obvious concentration needed to follow charts, the players seemed to be enjoying themselves from the outset. Amethyst Stymied, the opening number, was a chirpy hippy-pop song (albeit in 5-time, with mysterious lyrics) with Brigitte Beraha’s easy vocal riding Jim Blomfield’s insistent piano. Once the riff emerged, courtesy of Ashley John Long’s resonant bass guitar and Mark Whitlam’s drumming, it rolled along nicely until, goaded by Kevin’s alto sax, it dissolved into a liquid freeness.
Wallpaper Music (pic: Tony Benjamin)
“There’s a little something for everybody tonight.” Kevin promised, announcing Dot Dash, a Morse Code themed piece fuelled by hard prog energy and insurgent drumming. Brigitte’s bewildered vocal found itself in a disputatious call and response duel with Kevin’s angular saxophone and it ended in agonised vocal wails. In a benign contrast the emollient Blank Out The Night which followed aimed to sooth a troubled child with gentle singing and mellow alto flute. The Time Is Come would have been a conventional Bossa nova if it hadn’t been in 7-time yet it flowed smoothly nonetheless, providing Kevin with another creative alto solo that was somehow skittish and rueful at the same time. And then there was Patterns of Decay – an abstract instrumental beginning with bursts of roaring grumble that, indeed, decayed into a thin mix of (intentionally) aggravating sounds. It had the feel of a sinister soundtrack, harshly metallic, beneath Brigitte’s laconic vocals.
is needed now More than ever
Wallpaper Music (pic: Tony Benjamin)
The second set was similarly enlivening, with keyboards and bass guitar exploring the electronic possibilities of their instruments as Kevin drew on his own armoury of brass. Highlights included Mock Turtle’s jaunty insistence, voice and baritone sax in tight unison while Jim’s scratching keyboards worked up into a dazzlingly assertive solo and a prog meltdown. Shame (“a useful emotion” Kevin said) wove thoughtfully on soprano sax to a fine double bass solo from Ashley, scraping out a range of tones with his bow in a dialogue with light-touch keyboard rejoinders and another free improvisation to wind down.
Wallpaper Music (pic: Tony Benjamin)
All in all it was a breezily creative set of music brought to life by fine musicianship, with the whimsical elements made even more so by the seriousness with which they were executed.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
