RECORD REVIEWS MUSIC
I June Frost: June Frost (Question Mark?) this debut album from the five- piece lidinburgh group crosses as many genres as the band's members hail from diverse continents. At times slow. lilting and beautiful. at times raucous and vibrant. the tracks evoke as many moods and atmospheres as the imagination can stretch to. The inimitable sound of the digertdoo adds an otherworldly counterpoint to the sweeping violin and delicate guitar. The music builds and swells to hartttottiotts crescendos before gently subsiding into intangible melodies. Special mention must go to Robert Hancock for his vocals on ‘Shouting'. .\ line debut and an impressive example of powerful mood music. (Jonathan Treyy )
I Seeteel: Succour (Warp) liast Londoners Seefeel
joined the techno party last year. bttt ~- awkward sods —
remembered to bring their instruments. In place of samplers. they used guitars. drumkit and vocalist Sarah I’eacock to build up layered textures that looked forward to the virtual age as much as they barked back to The Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. .’\pparently. Seefeel haven‘t ditched the guitars yet. btit you'd hardly know II from this. their second album. which slltm's them forging paths into ever more abstract realms of trancevillc. Rather like a soundtrack in search of a film. Succour deals in repetitions of fragments rather than tunes and you could easily convince yourself that it's operating on your mind in some fiendisth subliminal way. Then. just when you think you've got their number. the
trousers burst open and otit pops a thumping second cousin of 'l l’eel l.ove‘. .r\ jarring. but welcome. moment in a gallery of tastefully painted soundscapes. (Alastair
Seeteet: ‘ever more abstract realms of tranceville’
‘ riffs on the first track. ‘Kuff
Mabbott)
M,
I Jacob’s Mouse: Rubber Room (Wilila) The opening
l’rang‘. could easily lead you to believe that we're in for sortie angry young blokes with guitar gubbins — you know the score. car- splitting screaming over a sonic maelstrom. l"or much of the album you‘d be right. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all. But it's not esactly pushing : back the boundaries of musical expertmentation. Ilang on a minute. though. by the time we get on to 'l"o:tm l-ace' they ‘vc thrown in some jaunty hooks and bubbly warping noises with
spacey vibes added for good measure. Intrigtting. btit not i as curiotis as 'l’oltergcist' with its percussion that sounds like someone playing the \yloplione on your spine over art insistent
tlauce beat. Not a great album. but it does indicate that Jacob's Mouse are worth keeping an eye on. (Jonathan Trew)
I Joe Henderson: Double Rainbow (Verve) Sometimes I miss the bite and drive of his 60s work in the mature Joe Henderson style. but there is no question that we are hearing a master saxophonist at work. This well-chosen selection of Jobim tunes is the third in a sequence of themed albums (Strayhorn and Miles provided the first two). and is every bit as polished in its relaxed. lithe treatments of these Latin classics. For a taste of an earlier mode from Joe. check out the previously unreleased 1968 quartet set Four! (Verve Discoveries).
I Carla Bley, Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard: Songs With Legs (Watt) This trio made its debut in Edinburgh. and sounds just as quirkin good now as it did then. The album was recorded at various points in a European tour (thus the title). and allows
all three players plenty of space to say their piece within Carla's distinctively tluid compositions. although at the price of stretching things out a little indulgently here and there.
I Michel Petrucciani: Au Theatre des Champs- Elysees (Dreyfus Jazz) A typically incandescent solo set from the French pianist. spread over two discs' worth of dazzling improvisational brilliance.
His touch and harmonic
invention are awesome at times. and he has the alchemist's gift for transformation on even the most familiar or unpromising of tunes — just listen to his reading of ‘Besame Mucho'. Also worth checking out is Blue Note's new French pianist Jacky Terrasson.
on his eponymous debut
for the label.
I Joe Temperley: Concerto For Joe (HEP) The studio version of a work premiered at the Glasgow Jazz Festival last
year. The late Jimmy Deuchar wrote it for Temperley. but died shortly before the original scheduled recording date. It is good to see the project come to fruition in the hands of a fine British ; band. and if the lack of rehearsal time shows through here and there. it is more than compensated for by the writing and playing. The album is completed with seven quartet tracks. with Temperley's baritone saxophone sounding as gorgeous as ever.
I Steve Arguelles: Busy listening (Babel) Tongues are firmly lodged in cheeks a fair bit of the time on this latest set from the drumming half of the Arguelles brothers. although saxophonist Julian is here too. The quirkiness is neatly balanced by some seriously focused playing from the quintet. while the drummer himself is well up in the mix and in great form. (Kenny Mathieson)
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The List 21 Apr-4 May I995 45