Top in 20 VIBES AND PERCUSSION ALBUM: MARTIN PYNE, SPIRITS OF ABSENT DANCERS, Discus

In a year, when dance the greatest of all the performing arts became taboo, of disaster: nevertheless top and best beyond however mindful of all notions of necessary resilience, in vibes and percussion on Spirits of Absent Dancers there is a …

Published: 27 Nov 2020. Updated: 3 years.

In a year, when dance the greatest of all the performing arts became taboo, of disaster: nevertheless top and best beyond however mindful of all notions of necessary resilience, in vibes and percussion on Spirits of Absent Dancers there is a benevolent aura surrounding some of the more reverberant sounds of which you get quite a few on this unusual album, just solo vibes and percussion. It is not austere but instead achieves a deft balance in its array of bells, drums and vibes bathing in warmth and producing a certain tenderness and spiritual sound. The album feels as if it is populated by a host of musicians and not just one. Pyne works in jazz, improvised music and contemporary dance, leading his own trio, Busnoys, and collaborating over the years with such luminaries as Stan Sulzmann. His inspiration here is dance and he says that during Lockdown ''I found myself imagining a lone musician in a deserted theatre, like a kind of medicine man, throwing sounds into the space in an attempt to conjure up the ghosts of dancers no longer present, to breathe movement into stillness. I set about creating a sequence of music based around this idea, and ended up with this set of nineteen largely improvised short pieces.'' A neat conceit that works remarkably well.

marlbank albums of the year will be published on Thursday 31 December round midnight

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TOP IN 20 BEST PIANO-LED ALBUM: Billy Childs, Acceptance, Mack Avenue

Top and best pianist-led album of 2020 Acceptance soars for the engrossing, Weather Report-like atmosphere of 'Leimert Park,' the warp speed fastness of Billy Childs' piano on 'Dori' or possibly even better the title track itself where you just …

Published: 27 Nov 2020. Updated: 3 years.

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Top and best pianist-led album of 2020 Acceptance soars for the engrossing, Weather Report-like atmosphere of 'Leimert Park,' the warp speed fastness of Billy Childs' piano on 'Dori' or possibly even better the title track itself where you just lose yourself in the song itself and emerge somehow a different person. Childs' version of 'It Never Entered My Mind' is also a considerable masterclass in its concision and again that mature mastery of mood. An album, on which Childs switches from Fender Rhodes to piano, that's not about fireworks more subtle rapport shaped around saxist Steve Wilson, Hans Glawischnig on electric bass, Eric Harland on drums and Munyungo Jackson on congas with very effective guest vocal contributions from Alicia Olatuja, Aubrey Johnson and Sara Gazarek and the flautist Elena Pinderhughes. The very clean unglossy production does not get in the way of the album and you can actually get a sense of the clarity of the compositional mind at work. Something special is going on here.

marlbank albums of the year will be published on Thursday 31 December round midnight