10/05/2006 Kerstan Mackness - Timeout
Guitarist Jonny Phillips might just be the next big star to emerge from
the F-IRE Collective,the loose
confederation of forward-looking Musicians that include the Mercury-nominated
Polar Bear and the
hip punk Jazz outfit Acoustic Ladyland, But while those bands embrace
electronica, funk and rock influences, Phillips who played on the Polar
Bear album and who regularly collaborates with folky songstress Julia
Biel)is a different beast altogether. His music is pastoral, impressionistic
mix of soaring melodies and South American folklore that strives to create
an aural form of magical realism. Dream like and beautiful, it sounds
simultaneously contemporary and yet centuries old.
His band Oriole are something of a F-IRE collective supergroup with big
haired drummer Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear, Acoustic Ladyland, Fulborn,
Teversham), cellist Ben Davis (Julia Biel, Django Bates), Lee Konitz-ish
saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock (Monica Vasconcellos), clarinettist Idris
Rahman (Soothsayers), Danish bass player Anders Christensen (Paul Motion)
and Brazilian Percussionist Adriano Adawali Itauna. Their new Album 'Migration'
is an early contender for jazz release of the year, sublime, slightly
unsettling but emotionally rewarding work that draws on folk, north Brazilian,
West African and Mediterranean music. Like the Norwegian pianist Christian
Wallumrod, Phillips conjures music that is quietly intense, beguilingly
beautiful and full of pleasingly robust tunes that stay with you long
after you hear them. Expect waltzes, gentle samba, persuasive grooves,
poignant themes and uplifting melodies that'll make you smile, think and
want to dance.
