MUSIC

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Thur May 19, St George’s, Bristol) • Though he’s lived in Cornwall for years now, saxophonist Larry Stabbins still gets claimed as a ‘Bristol’ musician and this gig – the first appearance with his new acoustic quintet – has a homecoming feel. He acknowledges this in a moment of reminiscence about himself, aged 12, learning to play the saxophone by listening to John Coltrane’s ‘Africa Brass’ album – an influence that outraged his teachers but clearly set him on his musical career. Whether playing tracks inspired by that album or Stabbins’ own more recent compositions the band simmers and shimmers into the music, with percussionists Crispin Robinson and Pat Illingworth locking tightly integrated Afro-Latin textures and Karl Rasheed Abel’s ear-grabbing bass adding precision and energy. Over their rhythms the dialogue between Stabbins saxes and pianist Zoe Rahman deft fingerwork is often spell-binding. Each new number starts with an almost ‘smooth jazz’ sound - the sax delivering melodic hooks, the piano sketching behind, the groove getting established - only to start subtly deconstructing and through solos that range from intense and neo-classical (Rahman producing great Bartok-like washes of sound with both bass lines and high melody running through) to the almost free (Stabbins howling tenor scratching a tune to pieces). It’s as if Stabbins is making the journey back from his commercially successful ‘Working Week’ project to his teenage jousting with Keith Tippett at the Dugout Club. It works particularly well on ‘White Queen Psychology’, a number from his electronic album ‘Stonephace’ that becomes something entirely new in this highly-skilled acoustic environment, and when the tune returns it’s transformed by the sense of possibilities unplayed. As the nickname suggests, Stabbins doesn’t give much away in facial expressions, but there are times when he surveys the band running away with his music with evident satisfaction and when the (undeservedly small) audience makes enough noise to justify an encore you can tell he’s pleased. And so he should be. (Tony Benjamin)

www.myspace.com/larrystabbins

Copyright Tony Benjamin 2011