Daily jazz blog, Marlbank

Track of the week: Adam Alphabet by Neil Cowley Trio

Drawn from the Ethan Johns produced Entity out on Hide Inside Records this autumn the Neil Cowley Trio are back with a vengeance on ‘Adam Alphabet’ - the long 7-year hiatus of the hit jazz and beyond piano trio now firmly behind the three. Pianist …

Published: 7 Jun 2024. Updated: 18 days.

Drawn from the Ethan Johns produced Entity out on Hide Inside Records this autumn the Neil Cowley Trio are back with a vengeance on ‘Adam Alphabet’ - the long 7-year hiatus of the hit jazz and beyond piano trio now firmly behind the three. Pianist Neil Cowley with bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins older and wiser perhaps and sounding as convincing as ever - the song title apparently had a working title of ‘Lipschitz’ - a random word that came to mind and oddly Evan and Rex had a friend with that surname but no one could really grasp it properly so his nickname became ‘Adam Alphabet,’ the name that Neil chose for the track above as a tribute to him. Beyond nomenclature it's archetypal NCT, a mutha of a pounding beat, feverish piano riffery and a sense that it is jazz for people who do not use the word just as much as for people who do but don't get hung up on genre as much as some in the anti camp would like to think. It's good to have them back.

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Jack Magnet Science, Future Forecast, Floki Studios ****

Jack Magnet Science feat. Matthew Garrison and Peter Erskine pictured: l-r: back row drummer-percussionist Sigtryggur Baldursson; drummer-percussionist Einar Scheving; keyboardists Jack Magnet (aka Jakob Frímann Magnússon) and Eythor Gunnarsson. …

Published: 7 Jun 2024. Updated: 17 days.

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Jack Magnet Science feat. Matthew Garrison and Peter Erskine pictured: l-r: back row drummer-percussionist Sigtryggur Baldursson; drummer-percussionist Einar Scheving; keyboardists Jack Magnet (aka Jakob Frímann Magnússon) and Eythor Gunnarsson. Front row, l-r: drummer Peter Erskine and bass guitarist Matthew Garrison

Inspired in Iceland

Awesome old school Weather Report-esque jazz-rock with an Icelandic twist and some hippy dippy vocals featuring stellar guests Matthew - son of Coltrane legend Jimmy - Garrison on bass guitar - and Weather Report legend drummer Peter Erskine, Icelandic band Jack Magnet Science whip up a jazz-rock rollercoaster of a ride honed over 3 days of improvising split over 72 tracks that provided the basis for the 7 originals. 'Wild Card' we loved and the contrasting cosmic balladic balm of 'Space Pasadena' also appeals as does the whole thing. Listen in one go without a break if you can. A studio album recorded at Flóki Studios, a studio named after a Viking who legend has it followed the path of a raven to discover Iceland more than a millennium ago, is located in the north of Iceland on the Troll Peninsula.

Band members were plucked from Icelandic band Stuðmenn led by keyboardist Magnet and include percussionists Siggi Baldursson (formerly of The Sugarcubes who helped catapult Björk to global fame) and Einar Scheving. Phil Doyle, a widely toured US saxophone player who has taught at music school in Iceland, and keyboardist Gunnarsson (pictured above in the core group shot, who was co-founder of the famed Icelandic band Mezzoforte) are also in the personnel as are saxophonist Jóel Pálsson, guitarist Guðmundur Pétursson, trumpet-flugel player Ari Bragi Kárason and harmonica player Thorleifur Gaukur Davíðsson. Vocals are contributed by Ragga, Disa and Egill Olafsson.

Bristling with trademark Erskinian touches that if you are into the aura of the classic Milesian Bitches Brew and Weather Report circa The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981 soundspheres you will certainly feel at ease with the Jack Magnet approach.