Ivo Neame Quintet, Kings Place

Pianist Ivo Neame, whose quintet gave a masterclass in the more reflective, concept-driven variety of contemporary jazz at Kings Place last night, is one of the lynchpins of the London scene. As well as leading and composing for this, his own group, he’s also a member of the LOOP Collective, supertrio Phronesis, and Marius Neset’s Golden Xplosion.

Playing a mixture of new originals and a couple of pieces from their last album, Yatra, Neame’s quintet demonstrated both the highest collective technique and a winsome sense of wit and whimsy.

With an instrumental line-up of piano/accordion, double bass, vibraphone, drums and sax/flute, there are is a lot of scope for subtle rhythmic layering (the track “Strata” - “layers” - presents this concern most directly), and some of the band’s most effective moments occurred when lines that were building under the surface suddenly burst through in a scintillating flash, only to be submerged immediately in the fecund patter of ideas.

Neame is a scion of the brewing family, and his compositions' yeasty flavours and complex blend of influences

Neame’s conversation with the audience was witty and ironically self-referential, not unlike his music, but he is a commanding player, exerting firm control over the development of each piece, and most of the ideas flowed through him. Only vibes player Jim Hart, a blur of sticks, came close to challenging Neame’s presence with a series of solos of cascading chimes that drew gasps of spontaneous applause. Tori Freestone’s flute was airy and song-like, complementing the translucent chimes of the vibraphone’s upper register; her sax was a little tentative to begin with, but strengthened during the gig to become a tough, sinuous thread weaving together the other percussive sounds. Drummer Dave Hamblett stayed mainly in the shade, but laid out masterfully complex, cris-crossing rhythmic tracks. Bassist Tom Farmer was replacing Jasper Høiby, of Phronesis, one of the most exciting players on the scene, with immense and instantly recognisable presence; Farmer played some ambitious, driving solos, but was understandably a little lost in Høiby’s huge boots.

Neame is a scion of the brewing family, and his compositions' yeasty flavours and complex blend of influences, decorated with a burst of sparkle and a whiff of intoxication, have, fancifully perhaps, a thematic affinity with brewing. For “American Jesus” (which featured on Yatra), Neame played accordion, adding a melodramatic bluesy quality complemented by a meandering, country flute, with some very erratic rhythm and phrasing suggesting a not wholly complimentary attitude to its subject. Appropriately enough, just when the tune appeared to have died, it sprang back to life.

Most exciting, though, were the new compositions. “Snopaque”, inspired by the wintry Italian mountains, featured delicate, icy webs of piano chords over pattering vibes and Freestone’s cold, husky sax. “Crise de Nerfs” (French for “nervous breakdown”) was full of neurotic mood shifts, with Hart’s skeletal, harum-scarum vibes at their most exhilaratingly weird. “OCD Blues” (a reference to both obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the depressing phenomenon of zero CD sales) employed wittily obsessive sax and vibes riffs and brittle, fragmented piano phrases to evoke their subject.   

If the gustily original and charismatic new tracks all make it onto the band’s next album (the gig was recorded), they will demand attention. This quintet’s pre-eminent qualities, quiet humour and fierce musical intelligence, aren’t necessarily what makes the front page, but contemporary jazz doesn’t get much more engrossing or finely crafted than this quintet’s, now sadly nearing the end of an international tour.