A bit of a summit meeting here – the quintet convened by guitarist Ant Law for occasional gigs in London now appears on record to give us all a chance to hear what Law, Will Vinson (alto sax), Gwilym Simcock (piano), Orlando le Fleming (bass) and Ernesto Simpson (drums) sound like together.
The results are pretty special. Vinson, like le Fleming a recent returnee to the UK after forging a career in the USA, eats up Law’s sometimes complex compositions, their long guitar/sax unison lines often sounding like a single instrument. Simcock tends to comp gently while they are romping along, but has some sparkling piano features too. Le Fleming, a long-time colleague of Vinson in the OWL trio with another guitarist, Lage Lund, has an easy rapport with the saxophonist, and Simpson’s on top of the beat playing, high in the mix, gives the faster tempo pieces a bristling feel that suits music that offers an engaging tumble of ideas.
The programme is varied, though, with pieces that allow players and listeners to draw breath – none more so than three limpid compositions with lyrics from Brigitte Beraha: the gentle opener A to Z, the bewitching Where Would we Be, graced by a mood-deepening piano solo, and the title song from Law and Beraha’s duo release from last year, Ensconced.
Among the quintet pieces, Tbilisi sees a bebop-fueled engine fitted with a supercharger, Law coming across like Louis Stewart on speed, while Simcock cools the proceedings a little. Ballroom then creates contrast with a dreamy effort that begins sounding more after-the-ball than party in progress then unfurls a melody that is grandiose for a moment before gentler reflections on the proceedings evoke something more wistful. Nikumaroro, another tricky up-tempo chart is heard twice. (“What if a rhythmic cycle had the same shape as a Pacific Island?”, asks the press blurb – um, OK, well it looks like this.)
Not sure I hear that, but the two versions feature distinctly different solos from guitar, piano and sax in turn, and it is easy to share the impulse to include both on what is already a generously proportioned release.
This won’t be touring band, I fear – a shame because the quintet-plus-Beraha are an ensemble of almost unlimited resource: here’s hoping festival organisers notice that. Meantime, though often tempted to conclude a review by recommending seeking out a live show to see how the work develops, for this one I can say you really need to hear the record to discover what this enticing group are all about.
Unified Theories is released today 27 June 2025
LIVE DATES CONFIRMED
With core band:
23 Oct 2025 RWCMD Cardiff
20 Feb 2026 Pizza Express Dean Street London
21 Feb 2026 Stapleford Granary
Other dates:
20 Sep 2025 Newcastle Jazz Fest
21 Sep 2025 Leeds Seven Arts
Dates for Law/Beraha Duo
September
25 All Saints Church, Hove
26 Bridport Arts Centre, Bridport
27 Limerick Jazz Festival
October
8 (afternoon) University College, Dublin
8 (evening) Arthur’s, Dublin
9 Queen’s University, Belfast
10 Aula Maxima, Cork
November
20 Green Note, London
January 2026
15 Nutshell, Winchester
