The trio creates chamber music of infinite variety, dependent on the musicians who can bend genres beyond breaking point.
JAZZ NOW JNO3SCD
Larry Stabbins (saxophones); Paul Rogers (double bass); Mark Sanders (drums and percussion)
Recorded 6th January 2025
First Lights / 67 South / 67 North / Boreas Curtains
Larry Stabbins is an important figure within British music, primarily recognized as a distinguished jazz saxophonist and flutist, yet his artistic journey has encompassed significant explorations into pop, fusion, and free improvisation. His career, stretching across several decades, is marked by collaborations with a remarkable group of influential musicians, spanning different genres and musical approaches. Occasionally, he threatens retirement but always returns.
The musicians on this album have their back stories. Paul Rogers stands out with his seven-string bass of his own design. because it is so unusual and it does allow, and almost compels innovation. He has played with numerous major musicians on the European and US Jazz and Improvised Music scenes. He was a member of the influential group Mujician with Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall and Tony Levin and performed and recorded with trombonist Paul Rutherford.
Mark Sanders has worked with musicians including Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Mathew Shipp, Evan Parker, Roswell Rudd, in duo and quartets with Wadada Leo Smith and trios with Charles Gayle with Sirone and William Parker.
While Stabbins name might not be known by the general public, his innovation has earned him respect among fellow musicians. This perhaps stems from his reluctance to be confined by genres, a characteristic that, while contributing to his rich artistic offerings, might have also made him a more elusive figure.
The musical journey of Larry Stabbins is one of constant evolution and exploration. From his early immersion in jazz and soul in Bristol to his key role in the London free improvisation scene, his foray into the pop charts with Working Week, and his subsequent genre-bending projects, Stabbins has consistently defied categorization. His significance as a saxophonist, flutist, composer, and innovator within the British music scene is undeniable.
“First Lights” is a very dramatic introduction to this trio of virtuoso improvisers. There is passion and creativity from Stabbins as he reaches the higher areas of the tenor, with the creative drumming of Mark Sauders impelling the forward movement. The profound sonority of Rogers bass justifies the extra strings. The listening involves disentangling the various lines and savouring each one.
In music such as this, the richness is in the interplay. Sanders’ percussion sounds have an inbuilt variation that is intriguing. Rogers finds sonorities on his bass that are beyond the reach of more conventional bass players. The interplay between Rogers and Sanders is an important part of the piece and the panoply of sounds that they execute is both exciting and innovative and also daring.
Rogers and Sanders begin “67 South” tentatively before Stabbins intervenes with a repeated figure. The response is restlessness and the overall feeling is agitation that is emphasized by the restless bass notes and the harsher tone of the soprano.
A plaintive theme, almost hymn like, from Stabbins opens “67 North”. it is a statement of intent that begins to unravel into a beautiful proclamation. the percussion and the bass playing underpin Stabbins’ declarations. Eventually, Stabbins begins to spit out notes against the background of bowed bass and driven drumming.
“Boreas Curtains” is partly credited to Keith Tippett. Stabbins uses the tenor to almost slap tongue as the pressure of the drums increases and the insistence of the bass becomes more urgent.
The beauty of this music is in the surprises. Jazz is reputedly “the sound of surprise” and yet it so rarely astonishes. Yet, here in over fifty minutes of music, there are infusions of harmony and distractions of dissonance. The trio creates chamber music of infinite variety, dependent on the musicians who can bend genres beyond breaking point.
The Trio played to acclaim at the Bath Jazz Weekend and moved, the next day, into the recording studio to make this album. This really is a new record.
Pianist Nik Bärtsch reduced the art of musicianship to three principles: 1) Listen! 2) Only play the essentials 3) Make the others sound good. All three are evident here.
