Trish Clowes’ unique blending of lyrical jazz with an ear for classical forms and textures is given an expressive outing in a broadcast on Radio 3’s Jazz on 3 from her live gig at Pizza Express, recorded last month.
Now one of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists, the set features the great James Maddren on drums and Gwilym Simcock on piano (the latter also a former Radio 3 NGA himself) in the rhythm section, enlarged by the addition of a string quartet which, later in the gig, provide some ravishing colours of which Ravel would have been proud. (I’ve written previously about Trish here and also here.)
Trish’s sinuous, accomplished and always melodic improvisation dominates throughout, and the gig includes a complete performance of her Iris Nonete suite. Towards the end of the suite’s first section, the whole ensemble starts to take wing, and you feel as though you’re listening to a neo-Classical incarnation of McCoy Tyner’s 1978 live album, The Greeting. Interesting stuff…
Catch the gig on iPlayer here for the remainder of the week.
