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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Jon Lloyd
t i t l e : Four and Five
d a t e : 1999
l a b e l : Hatology
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Jul-2004
t r a c k s : 07
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 99,5 MB
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The Wire
Jon Lloyd Four and Five Hatology 537CD
On alto as well as soprano, saxophonist Jon Lloyd has an acidic
tone which lends itself to cerebral incisiveness. But it is
short on visceral warmth. Hence his ensemble work always
features an important part for a strong bass voice. On early
recordings, such as Syzygy (1990) and Head (1993), Paul Rogers
held up the bass end tremendously well, and now Marcio Mattos
provides a comparably rich, if less overtly propulsive
underpinning. Lloyd etches his angular themes across the body
of a group that is rounded out further by the cello of Stan
Adler. The interactio between the two string players nourishes
the saxophonist's spiky florescence. On the charged opener
"Jump", and the relatively earthy "Blues For", Lloyd's soloing
very noticeably gains strength as it feeds from their taproot.
He is a remarkable saxophonist, but his judgement in choosing
suitable collaborators seems as vital to his artistic success
as his own considerable technical capabilities.
This quartet is completed by Paul Clarvis, a percussionist who
is singularly capable of fusing mental agility with physical
urgency. He is an accomplished classical musician, who has
worked with The London Sinfonietta, as well as a forceful jazz
drummer. His busy metallic tinkering on the title track is a
perfectly judged response to that composition's systematic
repetitions and South East Asian echoes. It has the
detachment of a commentary, yet at the same time it belongs to
the character of the piece. For illustration of his capacity
to drive an ensemble look no further than the opening bars of
"Jump".
Four and Five ends with an interpretation of Duke Ellington's
"Take The Coltrane". If Lloyd appears to be acknowledging a
debt to the jazz mainstream, he's actually leading his group
through an anatomisation of the theme's potential, opening it
up. Lloyd doggedly avoids being ensnared by the obvious, be it
in terms of rhythmic pulse, melodic line, or harmonic
structure. On this album he has found musicians that share his
determination.
taken from Julian Cowley in "The Wire"
The Guardian
Jon Lloyd Four and Five (Hat Hut Records HatOLOGY 537) ***
ú14.99
Like Trevor Watts, Jon Lloyd is an Ornette Coleman influenced
saxophonist of the pre-80s British jazz generation who has
never occupied either the mainstream of orthodox playing, or
the mainstream of the free-improv circuit, either. Yet he is a
player of subtlety, delicacy and intelligence, and this disc
finds him with a classy and distinctively voiced quartet of
bass, cello and percussion, exploring the borders between
free-playing and composition. Lloyd's intricate, wriggly solo
lines often recall the liquid, high-pitched and cliche-free
improvising of the American Steve Lacy, but the compositions
shift from Monk and Ornette - like exclamatory phrasing through
systems-music spins, a hauntingly lament-like quiet blues, and
even Ellington's Take the Coltrane, delivered as an engagingly
jittery alto-and-strings conversation with Paul Clarvis's
percussion running a commentary behind. Ambitious and
virtuosic free-jazz.
taken from John Fordham in "The Guardian"
Signal to Noise
Jon Lloyd Four and Five (hatOLOGY)
Records like this could give chamber jazz a good name. Efforts
to combine the different small-group dynamics of jazz and
classical music often fail because one genre dominates while
the other is pulled on like a new logo t-shirt - eagerly
displayed but not very lived in. But English saxophonist Jon
Lloyd and his comrades (cellist Stan Adler, bassist Marcio
Mattos, percussionist Paul Clarvis) instead treat the two
styles like adjoining rooms in a larger musical house; "we can
spend some time here, and then spend some time there," I
imagine them saying, and they saunter between the two with
ease. Clarvis is hardly unacquainted with swinging behind a
soloist, but he's just as comfortable being a colorist as a
rhythmatist. The string men intertwine bowed and plucked lines
that breathe, yet retain a certain sturdy rigidity. What I
like most about Lloyd isn't his moments in the spotlight
(though it's fine and fluent throughout) but the way his
playing sets things up for the band; solos are part of a larger
group concept, not ego-oriented expressions. This record is
exquisite without being precious - no mean feat!
taken from Bill Meyer in "Signal to Noise"
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01-Jump [07:30]
02-Four and Five [11:29]
03-Zilch, Zero, Zed [07:57]
04-Blues For [10:51]
05-Method [07:55]
06-Xis [04:28]
07-Take the Coltrane [05:22]
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55:32 min
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