Tom Arthurs and Gwilym Simcock/Sonny Murray, London

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2009 - 21:15

The matter-of-fact inclusion of chamber music composed and performed by two established young jazz musicians during the Proms' New Generation Artists 10th anniversary weekend at Cadogan Hall showed just how blurred the lines between jazz and classical music have become. Trumpeter/composer Tom Arthurs and pianist/composer Gwilym Simcock's short chamber pieces confidently integrated jazz improvisation with detailed written textures and stood up to the close scrutiny of being sandwiched between the trio arrangement of Stravinsky's modernist five-piece The Soldiers Tale, premiered in 1919, and the music from Martinu's Surrealist ballet La Revue de Cuisine, premiered in Paris in 1930.

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Both classical ensembles gave a sprightly account of early 20th century syncopation, and even managed to put a spring into the step of the pinched rhythms of classic ragtime. Equally, the two compositions by Arthurs and Simcock showed strong modernist leanings with their logic of development and flow from harmony to dissonance.

Arthurs' composition "And Distant Shore", scored for two trumpets and piano, was titled after a line from a poem by Pushkin and was inspired by the experience of travel, of "seeing behind, but not necessarily what lies ahead". Simcock's piece for piano and strings - here performed by the excellent six-strong Aronowitz Ensemble - was simply called "Contours" and delivered an undulating panorama of emotions that zipped from melodrama to pathos and from romance to contentment with the everyday.

Arthurs' piece opened with a fine balance of classical understatement and implied syncopation. The rococo opening theme was delivered by harmonised descending trumpets, made richer by the tonal contrast between the smoky, pitch-bending Arthurs and the bell-like purity of fellow trumpeter, Giuliano Sommerhalder. Sparse, bleak and wide-spaced piano added tension, thematic development added textural complexity. There were changes in rhythm, an elegiac improvisation from Arthurs and a melodic solo from Sommerhalder before a fading motif cued journey's end.

Simcock's assured writing wove written and improvised piano into a complex web of unfurling textures more in the manner of a traditional piano concerto. Ascending impressionist piano introduced viola plunkings, a beautiful violin melody and Spanish-tinged harmonies. There were dramatic changes of direction augured by brief sudden silences and snatches of familiar-sounding melody tossed from piano to strings. Both pieces were emotionally rich and made improvisation part of their underlying structure, with Simcock's cinematic scope a contrast to Arthurs' more idiosyncratic vision. ?????

Arthurs said in his brief on-stage interview that "jazz" and "classical" are merely "tags" to define music, and that musicians in both genres have a common purpose. The two traditions have not completely merged, however, as the following night's gig at the Vortex jazz club featuring Sonny Murray, the ferocious veteran of 1960s expressionist jazz, soon confirmed. A broken press roll and a few splashes on the hi-hat were all that was needed to launch the first of three continuous, improvised sets.

Murray's multi-timed, polyrhythmic pulse broke the mould of the percussionist as time-keeper in the early 1960s, laying the foundations of free-jazz drumming. There was a time when his whirlpool of beats and cymbal splashes impelled jazz traditionalists noisily to the exit, and Murray, who was born in Oklahoma in 1936, has hardly mellowed. What is now evident, however, is his clarity of concept, deep roots in jazz tradition and ability to imply much more than he actually plays.

Over three sets, Murray created a forceful, multi-layered thrust from a miasma of scattered rimshots, broken press rolls and polyrhythmic cymbal patterns - a sampled fragment would sound remarkably similar to the underbelly of contemporary urban dance music. And with John Edwards rumbling and ruminating on bass, the textural detail and sense of pulse was hypnotic. The three sets took in deranged funk, a free-form ballad, frantic bowing and machine-gun sprays of unison notes. Saxophonist Tony Bevan kept the intensity high, but was a rather one-dimensional foil for the complex interplay and elliptic pulse generated by bass and drums. ?????

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