Home » Jazz Articles » Kit Downes
Jazz Articles about Kit Downes
The Golden Age Of Steam: Tomato Brain
by Bruce Lindsay
It's been a while. The Golden Age Of Steam released debut album Raspberry Tongue (Babel Records) in 2009, the follow-up, Welcome To Bat Country (Basho Records), in 2012. Then they laid low until 2020 and the appearance of album number three, Tomato Brain. It's been worth the wait. The album's multi-layered, six-part, “Loftopus" is an atmospheric and often disturbing half-hour. The title track is a reminder of the comic, but dark, inventiveness of Scots poet, songwriter, humorist and all-round genius ...
Continue ReadingLucia Cadotsch: Speak Low II
by Friedrich Kunzmann
On their sophomore effort, the multinational European trio around Swiss vocalist Lucia Cadotsch follows the band's initial instinct of organically dissecting and rearranging old favorites of the respective band members. This time around the trio is expanded by English keyboartdist Kit Downes' occasional organ embellishments and Lucy Railton's additions of odd melodic cello lines to conceptually intricate arrangements. The group's nearly-chordless and drum-free approach is able to conjure intimate spaces and fragile constructs while at the same time capturing not ...
Continue ReadingChris Montague: Warmer Than Blood
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Nuanced shades of blue, red, purple and yellow flung onto canvas mingle to clashing effect on the cover of British guitarist Chris Montague's drumless trio outing Warmer Than Blood. The title of the guitarist's debut as a leader is taken from a poem by the British writer Fiona Sampson. Its disturbing imagery is matched by the music's underlying restlessness and sporadic agitation, whilst the cover reveals itself to be the reflection of the different timbres, tones and textures which arise ...
Continue ReadingChris Montague: Warmer Than Blood
by Chris May
Spring 2020 has produced two notable albums from British guitarists. In April we had Rob Luft's exquisite Life Is The Dancer (Edition). In May we have Chris Montague's own-name debut, Warmer Than Blood. Like Luft, Montague writes engaging tunes and both albums are engagingly melodic; Montague's arrangements, however, are more open-ended, giving the music a collective vibe. Montague has recorded extensively since the late 2000s, notably with Troyka and Slowly Rolling Camera. His Troyka colleague Kit Downes ...
Continue ReadingKit Downes: Dreamlife of Debris
by Karl Ackermann
Kit Downes' ECM debut marked a substantial departure from his earlier recordings with saxophonist Tomas Challenger. Wedding Music (Loop Records, 2013) and Vyamanikal (Slip Imprint, 2016) were rhythmically complex with abstruse melodies that tended toward repetitive patterns and drones. With his ECM title Obsidian (2018), Downes, still on organ, worked in a more solidly constructed environment, imparting Celtic and hymnal qualities. Challenger appeared on only one track of the otherwise solo recording. Downes returns to ECM with Dreamlife of Debris, ...
Continue ReadingKit Downes: Obsidian
by Mark Sullivan
British jazz pianist Kit Downes has been previously heard on ECM on drummer/composer Thomas Stronen's first Time Is A Blind Guide album (2015). But in his early years Downes sang in a cathedral choir and took organ lessons. He recently returned to the pipe organ in a series of experimental projects with saxophonist Tomas Challenger, who is represented here on one track: the rest are solo performances which Downes describes as structured improvisations. Intrigued by the creative possibilities of the ...
Continue ReadingKit Downes: Obsidian
by Karl Ackermann
In 2013, pianist/organist Kit Downes, along with saxophonist Tomas Challenger, released Wedding Music (Loop Records) featuring Downes on the B-3 organ at Huddersfield University's St Paul's Church. That recording was moored in an ethereal setting that gave it an ambient, but stately quality and the duo reunited under similar conditions for Vyamanikal (Slip Imprint, 2016). In both cases the music focused more on the transparency of resonance rather than the structure of the pieces. Downes' ECM debut, Obsidian, returns him ...
Continue Reading
