They began with a whimper, rather than a bang. Bronx bassist William Parker was still tuning up when Zhenya Strigalev, Russian by birth but a regular performer at this south London restaurant and vodka bar, summoned the first quiet squeak from his alto saxophone. Parker’s playing became gradually more deliberate, but it was hard to say exactly at what point the London Jazz Festival gig had officially begun until Parker’s co-leader, the Louisiana-via-Chicago drummer Hamid Drake, finally picked up his mallets.
For those who continue to insist that avant-garde artists from Cecil Taylor to Jackson Pollock are doing nothing beyond the reach of a five-year-old child, there’s probably a joke in there somewhere. Yet despite the impeccable experimental credentials of both Drake and Parker, who actually met playing with Teutonic terroriser Peter Brotzmann, one of the great strengths of their collaboration was its open-armed accessibility. In other contexts, Drake has proved himself an excellent reggae player, while Parker recently released an album of (admittedly significantly reworked) Curtis Mayfield covers. Though such influences were evident only subtly tonight, neither man was afraid of a groove – swing, Latin, whatever – if he happened across it.
To point out that Strigalev is not in the same league as those with whom he shares the stage is perhaps stating the obvious, although it did seem odd that he positioned himself so far out front of his companions, and looked around so rarely. Indeed, he hardly opened his eyes at all. Particularly at the start of the set he also played too much, in apparent disregard of the fact that he was – unusually for a saxophonist – the only member of the trio not to achieve headline billing. It may have been part of a jazz festival, but this really was a drum’n’bass show.
Clearly comfortable in each other's presence, the pair have not only backed numerous frontmen but also recorded duo albums including Piercing the Veil and Summer Snow. Drake, the dreadlocked yoga enthusiast who last weekend, at Finland’s Tampere festival, interrupted his own set to deliver a 15-minute-plus talk on spirituality, was the more obviously charismatic. (Mercifully, he goes nowhere near a microphone tonight.) Yet Parker, in his crumpled hat, had a strong appeal of his own, singing along, à la Keith Jarrett, and at the close of the set affectionately mimed Drake’s stickwork.
More importantly, of course, each man’s playing was first rate. Again, Drake’s was the more extrovert, but he's a sufficiently multifaceted player to have contributed deft, delicate cymbal patterns, as well as a monstrous solo that, in accordance with tradition, drew the biggest cheer of the night. Parker’s playing, as usual, took the double bass into an unusual and exciting role, concerned with texture and propulsion more than harmonic bedrock. If the gig at times smouldered where it could have combusted, it's not the rhythm section that should shoulder the responsibility.
- London Jazz Festival runs until 21 November
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