MUSIC

Colston Hall 2, Bristol (Sun 4 Sept) There’s a great turn-out tonight, with 120-plus people come to get a look at one of Eurojazz’s newest hotshots. It’s good to see the level of support for promoter Ian Storror’s latest collaboration with Colston Hall and it hopefully bodes well for future gigs he has planned. It turns out we’re well rewarded for turning out on so rainy a night, too. With an assurance bordering on cockiness, young Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset takes the stage with pianist Nick Ramm. First there’s a solo warm-up, Neset running through chops and tricks and staking his claim before the simple, hymn-like melody of ‘Saxophone Intermezzo’ emerges for Ramm to flesh out with artfully sparse chords. It’s a model of unhurried mastery, both players constructing the music as carefully as it needs. Then half of UK big thing Phronesis appear, drummer Anton Eger sporting his latest hairstyle (bank clerk after a strimming incident?) while bassman Jasper Hoiby’s opted for a tight pony tail. Once all four have settled, the full potency of Neset’s music really emerges, with ‘Old Prison XL’ an absolute boiler of hammered bass beats and relentless tune breakdowns, and ‘Golden Xplosion’s cross-timed rhythms producing wave after wave of resolved dissonances. There’s a deliberate recklessness to the compositions that releases hectic thinking in these four players and they clearly enjoy that edginess. Though rightly respectful of the skills around him, Neset is always in control, however, and ‘The Angel of the North’ is an intricate composition with a modal delicacy that recalls Andy Sheppard’s writing. The number releases Hoiby for a solo, crackingly phrased and to the point, while Ramm’s responsive adventuring on keyboards continuously enriches the harmony and Eger’s drumming roils away throughout. But it’s Neset’s show, of course, and he caps his seamless display with a looping solo nod to fellow Norwegian Jan Garbarek that pleases the crowd and more than justifies that initial swagger. This is definitely a player to keep watching. (Tony Benjamin)

Copyright Tony Benjamin 2011