John Bisset @ Storiel 14.06.25, John Bisset / David Hopewell / Ash Cooke (Recordiau Dukes)
Two Scoops @ Storiel 14.06.25, Two Scoops (Recordiau Dukes)
The Buds of Time by Tony Coe, The Tony Coe Ensemble / Delmé String Quartet (Jazz in Britain)
John Bisset @ Storiel 14.06.25 documents pedal-steel improviser John Bisset’s performance at the Storiel Gallery in Bangor, North Wales as part of his 2025 UK tour. Having headed up north from London, he turned left to gig his way along the M62 corridor and ended up in North Wales, where he encountered the musicians of LliFT. There are two substantial tracks here: the first, a solo set from Bisset, the second, a trio performance with LliFT regulars Hopewell and Cooke.
In the first, as usual, Bisset demonstrates just how versatile a lap steel guitar can be. Anyone hearing it played like this for the first time would be hard pressed to know what instrument they were listening to. Using all kinds of extended techniques (including, I’m guessing, Ebows) he produces a vast range of sound from it: one minute he can be creating sustained passages of stillness (one could almost describe them as meditative, only a sense of restless uneasiness is never far away), the next, an overpowering scream akin to a dive-bomber on its bombing-run. The range is startling.
In the second track, Bisset, is joined by Hopewell and Cooke, who supplement his lap-steel sound with electric guitars, granular synth, Monotron and iPhone. It’s a potent combination. With it, they create a succession of sound-worlds that make you wish music didn’t exist in time the way it does, so that you could stand back from it and take it in slowly, like you can a work of art. A great listen.
Two Scoops @ Storiel 14.06.25 comes not with sprinkles or a 99 flake, but instead with one of my favourite ever album notes which is at least as good and, into the bargain, not fattening. Two Scoops, it says, ‘solidly adhere to the dictum of “No rhythm, no melody, no bullshit.”!!!’ I can relate to this: it’s a pretty good philosophy, if you want to find new ways of making music. However, listeners should be provided with a trigger warning: there is quite a bit of conventional rhythm, melody and – shock, horror – even harmony here, only it’s packaged in a iconoclastic, unconventional way, in the form of sonic found objects, to be used for their noise-value: to be undermined, distorted and smashed up. The Two Scoops, incidentally, are the electric violin-flavoured Ed Wright and no-input turntable flavoured Andrew Leslie Hooker. As Leslie Hooker puts it, ‘we don’t need the comforts of classicism when political madmen are on the loose, but a few sonic baseball bats may help a little!’
There’s a discussion here that goes way back to the 1960s (and probably further) about music and politics. I’m reminded of what Frederic Rzewski once said, that ‘music probably cannot change the world, but it is a good idea to act as if it could.’ This has always struck me as a particularly judicious formulation. And there are many ways to approach it. Two Scoops do it by trashing culture creatively, exposing its limitations and turning it into art. The end result is work that speaks to and of its time, to great effect.
Tony Coe rose to prominence through his work with Humphrey Littleton and Johnny Dankworth and is most often remembered as the guy who played sax on Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme. However, the most important part of his legacy is probably his more experimental work: he not only collaborated with Derek Bailey but also wrote a number of works combining jazz-based improvisation with serial techniques, including the main work featured here, ‘The Buds of Time’, composed in 1979, recorded soon after and not released until now. As the album notes explain, it’s scored ‘for an unusual, and unrepeated, combination of a six-piece jazz ensemble (two reeds, bass trombone, piano, percussion and double bass) with a string quartet.’
It’s an interesting listen. It combines jazz and classical influences to great effect. I’d say it was ahead of its time, even: listeners today would, I think, take its genre-fluid qualities for granted. Critics might find its preoccupation with serialism quaint, but, on balance, if some classically trained wannabee composer came up with something like it as a response to a BBC Prom commission this year, I think people would sit up and take notice. All the musicians involved back then had a foot in both the jazz and classical camps, and at the highest level (with the exception of the Delmé String Quartet, whose background, I think, was primarily classical). The second track – another Coe composition, ‘The Jolly Corner’ – has a slightly more conventional jazz feel. The third track, ‘Music for Three’ is by Coe-collaborator Robert Cornford and, I hate to say it, though good, lacks the original edge of the Coe pieces (although there’s an excellent bass solo in the middle). The fourth track is of a 1980 performance of ‘The Buds of Time’, with a slightly different line-up which, I was interested to see, included clarinet-virtuoso Alan Hacker.
The album comes with an immensely readable and informative 22-page booklet. There are two music theory misprints: although a four-note cell fundamental to the construction of ‘The Buds of Time’ gets two mentions; only one is correct: the fourth note is definitely a natural, not a sharp. Also, the third crotchet in the first of the two rhythmic patterns should – my best guess – probably be a quaver, but these are mere quibbles, far outweighed by the quality of the content. (I only mention them as the music is so intriguing, I’m sure there will be people turning to the booklet to find out about how it’s put together).
Jazz in Britain have reason to be chuffed with the fact that The Buds of Time by Tony Coe is the first ‘lost’ jazz album they’ve discovered and released. It’s quite a coup. It’s great to be able to get a taste of it on Bandcamp and worth buying the CD not just for the music, but also for the booklet.
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Dominic Rivron
LINKS
John Bisset @ Storiel 14.06.25: https://recordiaudukes.bandcamp.com/album/john-bisset-storiel-140625
Two Scoops @ Storiel 14.06.25: https://recordiaudukes.bandcamp.com/album/two-scoops-storiel-140625
The Buds of Time: https://jazzinbritain1.bandcamp.com/album/the-buds-of-time