28 giugno 2024

 

E' oggi il giorno della pubblicazione in via ufficiale dello splendido album di esordio della Band of Bands di Mike Westbrook, posticipata di qualche settimana rispetto alle previsioni iniziali ma ricompensata ora con un piccolo premio - anzi, due - per chi ha atteso fin qui: i testi dei brani in scaletta, non pubblicati nell'edizione in cd, e un brano aggiuntivo disponibile solo in download (Illusions, di Friedrich Hollaender). Con Mike ci sono Kate, Chris Biscoe, Pete Whyman, Karen Street, Marcus Vergette e Coach York. Le registrazioni sono state effettuate dal vivo il 25 novembre 2023 all'Arts Centre di Ashburton, nel Devon (Regno Unito): è lo stesso luogo da dove ieri sera è stato trasmesso in diretta streaming l'ultimo concerto di stagione del quartetto Groove Study Live di Yumi Hara con Pierre Chevalier, Toshiaki Sudoh e Chris Cutler.

"No one could say that the great English composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook has settled into pipe-and-slippers mode for his late career. Although he was 87 when this was recorded and is 88 now, his latest ensemble Band of Bands is a fiercely Westbrookian outfit that shares the same passionate commitment and many of the same gifted personnel as his prolific musical past. As an arranger, he also gets an unfeasibly brassy big band sound from a smallish six piece instrumental line-up that swings like the clappers all the way.The combination of Karen Street’s accordion with the twin alto-doubling-soprano saxes of Chris Biscoe and Pete Whyman is a masterstroke of casting. Each of them has been with the master for thirty years plus - almost fifty in Biscoe’s case, evidently - but their of necessity exposed front-line is wickedly effective, coaxing a bold and gloriously bluesy sound from relatively slender means. Street is particularly essential at conjuring up a thick, horn-chorus feel that somehow creates the illusion that there’s a trumpet in the line-up hidden somewhere, and maybe a trombone too. The rhythm team of Marcus Vergette on bass and Coach York on drums enhances the intensity of the front-line by grounding the gospelly wails and bluesy ornaments of Whyman and Biscoe with emphatic, rock solid time and driving momentum." (Phil Johnson)