Star rating: ****
It comes as no surprise to learn that both of London-based saxophonist Julian Siegel's New York rhythm team have played solo concerts. Double bassist Greg Cohen and drummer Joey Baron bring an invention and superbly rounded musicality that reek of self-sufficiency but in a trio setting make for a quietly thrilling and immensely satisfying encounter.
Quiet is the operative term. The trio let the natural sounds of their instruments sing with the dynamics of a string quartet.
And I mean sing. Seldom can have so many drum solos featured in one concert with such pleasing results and such a variety of sounds and patterns.
Siegel's background and musical upbringing were neatly summed up in Trent Lock, dedicated jointly to the river where he used to fish - unsuccessfully - and the almost ever-present sound of Eddie Lockjaw Davis's saxophone at home in Nottingham.
His original music for the trio can be both simple and wittily intricate, giving room for his own tenor, clarinet and bass clarinet - and in one instance all three - to progress with fluent clarity, and creating opportunities for all three players to engage in a bouncy, effervescent and emphatically spontaneous musical conversation. It was a conversation that they clearly enjoyed and the warm camaraderie onstage only increased the feeling of involvement felt in the audience.
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