Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Beats And Pieces Big Band: Big Ideas

50

Beats And Pieces Big Band: Big Ideas

Beats And Pieces Big Band: a great name, for this is a band that knows how to emphasize the beat. Big Ideas, the debut album from this Manchester-based ensemble (a four-track EP was released in 2009 but is now deleted), is filled with danceable grooves and rhythms, mixed in with some more reflective melodies to create an absorbing and stimulating set.

The band—the brainchild of Ben Cottrell, who's the director and the composer of all of the tunes except Ben Watte's "Sisterhood"—began to make a name for itself well before the release of Big Ideas, winning the Burghausen European Young Artists' Jazz Award in 2011. The instrumental lineup is firmly in standard big band territory, but Cottrell brings added color to the sound by the use of electronics and also through Patrick Hurley's Fender Rhodes. This is a band filled with young musicians, new to the professional scene but still clearly full of enthusiasm for playing in a large ensemble. Cottrell keeps a tight rein on the section playing, which is uniformly excellent, but gives space to the players for some equally fine solos.

The Beats And Pieces Big Band makes it clear, on "Bake," that it has a powerful attack; from the opening horn salvo to the hard-hitting closing crescendo it's a full-on performance guaranteed to threaten the structural safety of any building that might play host to a Bits And Pieces live gig. Cottrell's savvy enough to know that in-your-face power isn't enough, though. "YAWF (part iii)" shows off the band's dynamic range superbly, with a hint of tension created by holding back that power and replacing it with subtler musical shades. Hurley's simple but insidious piano riff underpins most of the tune, which also benefits from Nick Walters' excellent trumpet solo. "Anymore" is a slow, reflective, number which highlights Beats And Pieces' ability to lay back and leave space—not an easy thing for a 14-piece group. Bassist Harrison Wood and flugelhorn player Graham South also contribute affecting solos.

"Jazzwalk" is the tune on which Beats And Pieces sounds closest to the big bands of the '60s and '70s. Wood's driving double bass powers things along, alto saxophonist Sam Healey adds a frenetic solo which is followed by Anton Hunter's almost hard rock guitar. "Broken" is the tune that is furthest into Big Band leftfield: a spooky, slow, ballad featuring vocals from Najia Bagi and Anthony Brown's smoky, laidback, tenor sax solo. It's the most intriguing number on Big Ideas, an assured debut which lives up to the confident assertion of its title.

Track Listing

Bake; YAWF (part iii); Three; Anymore; Jazzwalk; Elf; Sisterhood; Broken.

Personnel

Ben Cottrell: director; Anthony Brown: saxophones; Sam Healey: saxophones; Ben Watte: saxophones; Tim Cox: trombone; Simon Lodge: trombone; Paul Strachan: trombone; Owen Bryce: trumpet, flugelhorn; Graham South: trumpet, flugelhorn; Nick Walters: trumpet, flugelhorn; Anton Hunter: guitar; Patrick Hurley: piano, Fender Rhodes; Harrison Wood: bass; Finlay Panter: drums; Najia Bagi: vocals (8); Tullis Rennie: electronics (8).

Album information

Title: Big Ideas | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Efpi Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.