Special guest review by Eddie Myer
Sea Mammal Records SM2301
Benet McLean – violin; Duncan Eagles – tenor saxophone / flute; Liam Dunachie – piano; / organ; Rio Kai – double bass; Zoe Pascal – drums
The violin is a relatively rare instrument to find in a jazz context, and Benet McLean is a rare beast indeed – not only an exceptional pianist, singer, and general man about town on the London scene, but also a Yehudi Menhuin mentored violin prodigy who can really swing on his chosen instrument.
This latest offering was recorded in France but has a distinct flavour of the contemporary London scene: Duncan Eagles and Liam Dunachie are two of the most interesting players around on their respective instruments and the excellent rhythm section of Rio Kai and Zoe Pascal are very much at the forefront of the new generation of the capital’s players. All the tunes are by Mclean, apart from “fuller Love’ by Bobby Watson, and each one has a distinctive personality, from the quirky Jean-Luc Ponty-esque fusion of ‘Blue Fingers’ through the straight-ahead swing of ‘Lucy’ and from the Blakey style shuffle of ‘Mr Bap’ to the Latin flavoured groove of ‘Jo’, which features some especially exciting interplay between violin, sax and drums.
There’s great soloing from all – McLean soars on violin – and Pascal excels on drums throughout; as flexible, accurate, sensitive or cooking as required. The unusual frontline, the variety in the writing, and the occasional splashes and squelches from Dunachie’s keyboards, make this a sonically unusual album that’s still eminently accessible, full of excellent playing. Recommended.
