Ian Carr once called Tim Whitehead “one of the most creative, exciting and passionate saxophonists in Europe”. His creative drive runs deep in other ways too. These days it almost goes unremarked that he can take a project all the way from imagining the first glimmer of an idea to bringing the whole thing convincingly to life on stage in front of an audience – as happened on Friday night in the supportive environment of Jazz Cafe POSK.
South West London’s Way Out West collective, now entering its third decade (how many collectives last that long?) provides the ideal context for Whitehead to take the lead, to bring along others to co-create with him. All that can be hoped is that this completion also proves to be a beginning: this music deserves to be heard again and again and to develop further.
The music we heard was ten new, fresh arrangements of compositions by Keith Jarrett, mostly originally written for and recorded by his ‘European quartet’ with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. These pieces are clearly hard-wired in Tim Whitehead’s musical imagination, as they are for his generation of musicians… I have in mind conversations about these recordings with Django Bates and others. There is also a personal association through Jarrett’s biographer Ian Carr, who was an important encourager of Tim Whitehead, and brought him into his band Nucleus in the 1970’s.
Photo by Tomasz Furmanek
Those affinities came through with the screening before the concert of an extract from the 2005 TV documentary “Keith Jarrett – The Art of Improvisation”, with the film’s director Mike Dibb talking on stage, remembering the circumstances of the filming: all the members of the European Quartet were interviewed, although Garbarek did not want to be captured on camera…Keith Jarrett – for once – gave this film venture his support, not least because of the involvement and presence of Ian Carr.
The most obvious thing to say about the music we heard is that there is no slavish copying of the original going on – the numbers involved force it to be very different. The group is a sextet, meaning that the group consists of three single-line melodic instruments (and on one occasion four) in addition to a jazz piano trio. And what every one of these arrangements does, and those in the second set in particular, is to reinforce quite how strong and clear Jarrett’s melodic invention was, in particular when he wrote with Jan Garbarek in mind. Put three horns into a tune such as “Country” and, to put simply, this music just sings in a way that is new and fresh.
Pianist Tom Millar‘s arrangement of “Innocence” had a clever and gracious twist. Millar explained, modestly, that he sees Jarrett’s piano introduction to the piece on the record as unsurpassable… therefore he arranged it for three horns and arco bass, with the pianist entering the fray later. The particular energy of this music and this setting seemed to be transformative for a number of the players. I have never heard Pete Hurt play with the particular wildness he brought to “The Wind Up”.
It is a very strong group: Oli Hayhurst provides some of the most positive and strong bass playing to be heard anywhere. Gary Willcox is a wonderfully characterful drummer. Nick Mills has an instinct for the trombonist’s art of blending into and reinforcing textures while also making solo moments count, and Tom Millar’s playing stays in the mind, in particular for a flamboyant solo on “Memories of Tomorrow”.
When one hears music for the first time there is really only one question to ask: how soon would one like to hear it again? As soon as possible. It deserves it.
FIRST SET
My Song (Arr. Tim Whitehead)
Spiral Dance (from “Belonging” – arr. Pete Hurt)
Star Bright (from “Facing You” – arr. PH)
Prism (from “Changes” – group arrangement)
The Wind-Up (from Belonging – group arrangement)
SECOND SET
Questar (from “My Song” – arr TW)
Memories of Tomorrow (from “The Köln Concert “ arr Tony Woods)
Innocence (from “Personal Mountains” arr Tom Millar)
Country (from “My Song” – arr TW)
Long as you know you’re living yours (from “Belonging” – group arrangement)
The Way Out West 20th Anniversary celebrations continue with an appearance at the new Teddington Riverside Jazz Festival on 22 June.
