With the award-winning F-IRE Collective now firmly established on the
London jazz scene, the ever-astute Tony Dudley-Evans signed them up for
a national tour under the auspices of the Contemporary Music Network.
This was the last date, and had the feel of a triumphant homecoming.
The format of the concert emphasises the collaborative nature of the F-IRE
project. Rather than simply sending the best-known bands to come out of
the Collective, which include Acoustic Ladyland and Mercury Prize nominees
Polar Bear, a special big-band line-up was devised. Most of the musicians
are bandleaders and composers in their own right, and nearly all of them
contributed a tune to this programme, whether newly-minted originals like
Nick Ramm’s “From Melody to Memory” or pieces like Seb
Rochford’s “Beartown” that are already starting to feel
like standards. It’s an admirably democratic arrangement, the result
of years of collaborative learning and dues paid in the Collective’s
community workshops.
There is no ‘house style’ as such, although the big-band numbers
bear the free-blowing influence of Loose Tubes (Django Bates contributed
the programme foreword, like a presiding deity giving his blessing). Instead,
the music reflects the varied musical characters involved, an impressive
range from Tom Arthurs’s wispy, chamber-jazz flugelhorn outing “Potentials
of Shambles” to the raw, raucous blast of Pete Wareham’s “Remember”,
to which the composer adds a sclerotic, honking tenor solo. Julia Biel’s
soulful vocals enriched several numbers, not least “Song for the
Sleeping”, in which she was accompanied by Jonny Philips’s thoughtful
acoustic guitar. The instrumental mix was given variety by Finn Peters’s
flute and Ben Davis’s cello, and Oren Marshall’s tuba added
a Dirty Dozen Brass Band flavour; while guitarist David Okumu sounded,
as ever, like he’s beaming back signals from another planet.
If there was a fault with the show, it’s that the roof-raising group-jams
go on a little too long; you appreciate the musicianship, but can’t
help thinking it’s more fun to play than to listen to. Collective
individuality is a tricky line to pull off, and guest pianist Robert Mitchell
came close to stealing the show with an incandescent solo on his own “A
Heart Full of You”. But I leave (after an unexpected a cappella encore)
certain that this musical movement is gathering force.
