It is evident that in this piece, as throughout the whole of this fine album, the trio create their own unique rhythmic impetus that coupled with their deeply felt empathy for the compositions and each other’s playing make for some superb contemporary jazz.
Discus 190CD
David Beebee (piano); Marianne Windham (bass); Martin Pyne (drums)
Recorded January 2025
This is the second album from Martin Pyne’s trio, Small Blue, that the drummer and percussionist modestly describes as a group that he can write for. While he is often associated with a freer mode of expression, Pyne has always expressed a love for composing and anyone who has heard his Quartet recordings and Small Blue’s earlier release The Stealthy Moon would agree that it is something that he rather excels at.
With Furrow what Small Blue deliver is more of the same but different. Having built a solid rapport as a trio, the relationship between the three musicians is now stretched and explored with a set of material that is no less lyrical but can be said to swing to a different beat.
The lyrical side of the Pyne’s compositions are expressed beautifully on ‘Topaz’ complete with Beebee’s flowing and melodic piano solo and the lengthy and absorbing ‘Honey Street’ that never exhibits anything other than a truly wonderous piece of interplay from the trio. This is also evident in ‘Before The Thaw’ that was written as part of a collaboration for a live film score with pianist Stephen Horne. The film in question was a 1926 silent movie, Between The Law, and the dark undertones of the the opening piano and bass statement of the theme give way to a lighter feel and a wonderful solo from bassist Marianne Windham.
Films, novels and imagery play an important part in Pyne’s work both with Small Blue and in other aspects of his musical output, but with the trio it is perhaps presented in its purist and least abstract setting. The dramatic ‘Prabaker’s Taxi’ portrays a character from the novel Shantaram by David Roberts, and the music conjures up images of the chaos of the traffic as envisaged in 1980’s Bombay, with Windham’s bass line pulling all along in its wake and an excellent drum solo from Pyne.
The leader’s inventive and original drumming is also featured in the intro to ‘The View From Your Heart’ that then brings forth an unexpected melodic curve in the composition. Pyne also takes a drum solo on this piece that continues the inventive feel of the introduction, while the propulsive aspect of the trio’s repertoire is captured in a beautifully executed ‘Okri’ that has a fascinating sense of containment with bass and drums laying down an exhilarating foundation for pianist David Beebee improvisation.
With shades of Monk in Pyne’s quirky ‘Flirting At The Acme Bookstore’ depicting a scene from the movie The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart playing private detective Philip Marlowe as the lone customer with the Acme Bookstore proprietress played by Dorothy Malone in a scene that Pyne says ‘steals the whole movie’. It is evident that in this piece, as throughout the whole of this fine album, the trio create their own unique rhythmic impetus that coupled with their deeply felt empathy for the compositions and each other’s playing make for some superb contemporary jazz.
