The latest CD offering from the current British Open Champion is a vibrantly inventive collection of original compositions and arrangements from Danish composer Jacob Vilhelm Larsen.

Desire

It’s also a reflection of the quirky CD cover that clearly signals the band’s desire to take the listener on a travelogue of wide ranging and engaging genres - from concert march and test piece to the sophisticated cool jazz combination of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays.

Certainly the music included will be unfamiliar to many - but welcomingly so, in a recording that appeals on so many levels.

Great feel

The composer’s own tonal language incorporates a great feel for colour and melody; the wide range of textures that he incorporates well suited to the epic feel of programmatic pieces such as 'The Saga of Tyrfing - Rhapsody for Brass Band'.

An extensive and enjoyable piece of dark musical storytelling, its filmic atmosphere and vividness is a modern twist on Nordic influences, not least that of Denmark's greatest composer, Carl Nielsen.

Evocative

Larsen’s arranging skills are shown to equally fine effect with ‘Secret Story’ - a fascinating, evocative sequence of six poetically linked pieces based on the music of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. 

The extensive use of an outstanding percussion section (with superb contributions from Gavin Pritchard and Tom Daley) forms the malleable foundation palette of different moods - aided by excellent solo work and the effective addition of background sounds; from Grand Central Station and a plane take off from the tarmac of LAX airport to the cold clang of a penitentiary prison door and the crackle of a much loved dusty LP.

This is high class playing - from the stunning flugel leads by Lewis West (especially on ‘Back in Time’) and mesmeric pulse of the opening ‘Cathedral in a Suitcase’, to the throb of ‘Heat of the Day’, ‘See the World’ and closing ‘First Circle’, via a little gem of a percussion interlude in ‘Realization’. 

Viscous

Elsewhere there is the viscous trombone liquidity of Stephen Sykes in his stylish rendition of Charlie Chaplin's 'Smile', Dewi Griffiths expertly capturing the melancholic feel for ‘Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child' and the aching beauty of 'Eyes of a Child' featuring Danny Winder.

'Ad Astra' provides a striking opening and there is the plucky march 'Call of the Brave' (inspired by the battle of Jutland). In complete contrast comes the dizzying rhythmic thump of the Brecker Brothers ‘Some Skunk Funk’ and some tremendously idiomatic playing (especially on vibraphone) in the energetic ‘Samba Del Gringo’.

The whole thing ends in high spirits with the gospel infused bonus track, 'Can't Nobody do me like Jesus' - where the band lets its hair down without ever relaxing the precision and musicianship that is so evident throughout this thoroughly engaging collection.  

Geraint Davies

Contents

1. Ad Astra, 4.55
2. The Sage of Tyrfing, 13.02
3. Call of the Brave, 3.18
4. Smile, 3.47
5. Some Skunk Funk, 3.58
6. Sometimes I Feel like A Motherless Child, 2.52
7. Eyes of a Child, 3.33
8. Samba Del Gringo, 4.12
9. Secret Story — The Music of Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays
(i) Cathedral in a Suitcase, 3.33
(ii) Heat of the Day, 4.55
(iii) Back in Time, 3.26
(iv) See the World,3.26
(v) Realization, 1.31
(vi) First Circle, 5.36
Bonus Track
Can't Nobody do me like Jesus, 3.18