A debut from Amsterdam based Cardiff alto saxist, composer Alice Leggett playing her own work.
With the leader are tenorist Alex Hitchcock, trumpeter Alistair Payne, pianist Chaerin Im, bassist Tijs Klaassen and drummer Wouter Kühne.
A former member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and graduate of the Trinity Laban conservatoire, Leggett’s work to date includes an appearance on Mark Lockheart’s 2019 album Days on Earth (above).
In 2023 a single (above) featuring a range of personnel from the upcoming album – with a guitar part instead of trumpet within the sound – also was released called ‘Remember the Blue Sky.’
Tightly woven, progressively modern sounding without being atonal or full on avant-garde there’s plenty of space for in-depth examination of themes and motifs. Beyond the ‘Birdsong’ and ‘Million Dreams’ suites elaborate a cappella soloing from Leggett on ‘Solace’ abounds. When the band develops more traction it’s even more engaging.
A strong statement of where Leggett is now as a composer
Payne’s whinnying, expressive playing on the first of the ‘Million Dreams’ tracks is a standout as is the brittle stick work from Kühne on the more avant-garde third element of the same suite.
If you rightly or wrongly see jazz in the either/or terms of art/entertainment (what about both?) this is an album that lands firmly within the art dimension. Leggett’s spikiness is a style that can be compared in places to what Matana Roberts has achieved especially in the more vigorously involving passages.
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