Rogers, Parker, Sanders & Yeo, Vortex Jazz Club review — exceptional improvising

The best through-improvised performances conjure form on the fly. And like the best, this pulsating gig from a first-time quartet evolved almost as a plan. The inner core was a headlong collective rush that the band sustained to maximum effect. But it periodically changed mood or paused to showcase individual virtuosity, before once again coalescing and proceeding at pace.

A low hiss of mallets signalled the evening’s start, a spaced ping of cymbals set the pulse and an ominous surge of double bass implied threat. Pianist Nikki Yeo added a scattering of notes, Evan Parker flurries of high-range tenor sax, and brittle-beat drums and helter-skelter bass intertwined. The band’s aesthetic heart was in place.

As the evening progressed, snippets of melody passed through sax, piano and bass, an instrumentalist momentarily took the lead and rhythmic motifs echoed through the band before fading away. The collective will was compelling, though the first time this particular line-up had played together was a brief run-through to balance the sound.

That said, the free-jazz credentials of three of the band are long established and their playing always grips. Parker helped found the form in the mid-1960s, double bassist Paul Rogers moved to the capital a decade on and Mark Sanders is currently the saxophonist’s drummer of choice. Rogers is based in France, making his appearance something of a draw. But pianist Yeo, though no stranger to improv, is best known for her grasp of the harmonically rooted mainstream, and it was she who promised the element of surprise.

Here, she filled in the cracks with sensitive, focused and emotionally on-point musicianship and confidently took the lead. A sustained full-pedal rumble seething in the piano’s lower register stood out, but so too did her abstract balladry and rumbustious thumps that magnified the collective train of thought.

Elsewhere, Parker’s microtonal melodies and circular breathing impressed, while bassist Rogers’ astonishing command of his seven-string bass constantly thrilled; the custom-built AAL has a cello range, an extra bass string and 14 rear-mounted “sympathetic strings” that provide a subtle undertow of shimmering sound. From low notes to high, he controls them all and adroitly plucks while playing his bow.

But it was the quartet’s group strength that carried the day and the bond between bass and drums that underpinned the band’s urgent pulse. The band were in full swing when Yeo’s discordant nursery-rhyme quote cued the eventful set to fade gradually away. No time for an encore — a second full house was waiting on the stairs.

★★★★☆

vortexjazz.co.uk