JazzNow JN05SCD
Pat Thomas – piano
Olie Brice – bass
Gary Willcox – drums
It is unusual for a drummer on the Vortex scene to openly acknowledge an affinity for Buddy Rich. Uncommon, certainly—but also refreshing. Throughout the album, Willcox relishes the expanded palette of percussive possibilities. He reveals himself above all as a deeply attentive, listening drummer, his focus often trained on the pianistic language of Pat Thomas. At times this manifests in subtle call-and-response exchanges, as Thomas develops motifs or repetitive figures and Willcox answers with forceful, sharply judged interventions. Elsewhere, he treats the drum kit orchestrally, deploying a wide range of tonal colours to enrich and extend the trio’s sonic field.
For Olie Brice, the double bass becomes a vehicle for fluid, seemingly limitless expression. His approach balances a profound respect for the jazz tradition with a fearless commitment to total improvisation. While many bassists treat the bow as an occasional resource, Brice elevates it to a primary voice. His arco playing is strikingly vocal in character, capable of shifting from hushed, breath-inflected subtones to abrasive, multiphonic cries. By contrast, his pizzicato is physically assertive and propulsive. His tone—large, warm, and unmistakably woody—is achieved through a lateral pulling of the strings, parallel to the fingerboard, maximizing the instrument’s natural resonance so that the sound is as much felt as heard. Equally important is his command of space: Brice understands that technical mastery includes restraint. He frequently allows notes to decay fully, letting the instrument’s body resonate before introducing the next gesture.
Pat Thomas, often described as a pianist of immense sonic power, approaches the instrument as more than a melodic vehicle; it becomes a resonant engine of rhythm and texture. He leans physically into the piano, exploiting the full spectrum of its mechanics—the percussive weight of the keys, the thud of the pedals, and even direct interaction with the strings—to amplify its raw impact. Central to his style is an ability to seize upon a fragment or motif and pursue it with relentless focus. Through repetition, he transforms simple figures into deeply personal statements, building grooves that evolve through persistence rather than conventional development. His work continually negotiates the space between jazz tradition and atonality. In “Epigram,” for instance, there is a fleeting suggestion of “C Jam Blues,” but Thomas refracts this reference, stretching and distorting it into something entirely his own.
The opening of “Epigram” offers a particularly compelling example of the trio’s collective sensitivity. Brice and Willcox create a beguiling, finely textured prelude that both sustains tension and prepares the ground for Thomas’s entrance, demonstrating the depth of their shared musical intuition.
The album also reflects the consistently high production values associated with Jazz in Britain, presented in a four-panel digisleeve accompanied by an eight-page booklet of informative liner notes.
