If the title of this, the debut album by the quartet of London-based saxophonist Sam Norris, suggests that the listener should approach the music with a degree of patience, that wouldn’t begin to reveal the full complexity of the conceit. A quote from enigmatic French composer Erik Satie (“I took to my room and let small things evolve slowly”), the words reveal far more about the processes at play in the formation of this unapologetically slow-cooked music.
Norris is a particularly refreshing voice on the alto saxophone, and one who largely avoids pervasive influences to follow a more individual path. Alexander Hawkins’ perceptive album notes speak of the combination of the long melodic arcs of Lee Konitz, the tonal sweetness of the Benny Carter school (via Art Pepper) and the music’s rhythmic debt to hip-hop. Sometimes redolent of Greg Osby and the M-Base school, I also hear echoes of Coltrane and the finely balanced passion and poise of under-sung West Coast masters such as Warne Marsh and Anthony Ortega.
Joining Norris are Jay Verma (piano), an old pal from his Nottingham University days, Will Sach (bass) and Harry Ling (drums), whom Norris and Verma met during their respective studies at the Royal Academy and the Guildhall. Together they form an incredibly tight unit, their familiarity with the material going some way towards explaining the great composure evident throughout the recording. Many of the pieces were inspired by Norris’ life studying and working in London, and to extend Satie’s conceit yet further, they often blossom out of the smallest musical kernels and ideas.
“The Fulcrum” opens with an attractive series of repeating cells and motifs, Norris’ pellucid tone feeling its way into the theme before venturing further afield. By three minutes into the piece the trio is already disrupting the flow, coaxing some of Norris’ most fiery moments of the set. “The Bright Winding Path” and “Chorale” are short chamber-ish interludes, programmatically significant buffers between the more heavily improvised pieces. “Glacial” captures that simultaneous sense of restlessness and serenity of the bast Coltrane ballads, “Azazello” nods to its literary inspiration with an unresolved sense of unease worthy of the best antagonist, and the dance-like theme of “Un-ravel” quickly unfurls into a complex multi-sectioned piece. The curious call and response between Norris and Verma during the the enigmatic intro to “Dark Satellites” presages some lively exchanges between Sach an Ling, and Norris’ rubato balladry on the closing “Lamentation” almost imperceptibly morphs into a slow-burning ‘Tranish mid-section and another cleverly constructed solo from the mightily impressive Verma.
All told this is a debut album of considerable maturity and subtlety, and in an age where instant gratification is becoming the expected norm Norris makes a persuasive argument for the longer game.
Small Things Evolved Slowly is due for release on the Resonant Postcards label on 30 August with a launch at the Vortex the previous evening. Other confirmed tour dates for the Sam Norris Quartet are as follows:
4 September — Cherry Reds, Birmingham
3 October — Hot Numbers, Cambridge
4 November — The Parakeet, London
1 April 2025 — Fringe in the Round, Bristol.
