Tomos Williams: Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. So it has proven for Welsh trumpeter-composer Tomos Williams, whose intended one-off album Cwmwl Tystion / Witness (Tŷ Cerdd, 2019) unwittingly became the first installment of a trilogy charting Welsh identity, history and internationalism. Realizing there were still important stories to tell, Cwmwl Tystion II: Riot! (Tŷ Cerdd, 2021) picked up where Witness left off. On this second volume Williams addressed blood-soaked historical events in Wales—revolts, pogroms and race riots—across a brilliant one-hour suite. With Cwmwl Tystion III / Empathy the Aberystwyth-born musician closes the circle with the most musically and thematically ambitious work of the trilogy.

The cast of Williams' ensembles has evolved over the course of these three live recordings, with the leader, drummer Mark O' Connor and projectionist Simon Proffitt the only ever-present members. For the concerts in Wales and England that rendered Empathy, they were joined by electric bassist Melvin Gibbs, guitarist Nguyen Le, and singers Eadyth Crawford and Mared Williams .

The linguistic and economic colonialism foisted on generations of Welsh by successive English governments inform the music here. So too, the scars left on a nation's psyche by the tragedy of an industrial-scale mining accident, and the pride in fighting the tides of fascism—both past and present. Not for nothing are the performances visceral and blues-laced.

Though the arrangements are instrumental in the main, the Welsh language plays a central role; Crawford and Williams dovetail between powerful vocalise, haunting Welsh folk songs and hymnal uplift. Welsh choirs are world-renowned, and a recording of a congregation singing the hymn "Lief" on "Aberfan 1966" would bring a tear to a hangman's eye; this composition recalls the death of 144 people—116 children among them—in a coal-mining town when a sliding colliery slag engulfed the local primary school. Gibbs' pedal-induced white-noise provides an appropriately unsettling filter.

The Harriet Tubman bassist is an inspired recruitment, his rhythmic energy and atmosphere-altering pedal work informing the music throughout. No less so Lê, who peppers the set with driving funk grooves and thrilling solos. It is not all fireworks from the French-Vietnamese guitarist, however. His playing, just as frequently subtle, lends sympathetic support in the music's most tender and lyrical passages. Then there is the leader, whose trumpet lines shine throughout.

Speaking about the project to All About Jazz in 2021, Williams cited the influence of Wadada Leo Smith's Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform Records, 2012) and Matana Roberts' Coin Coin series. He has also name-checked Ambrose Akinmusire, John Zorn and Harriet Tubman as additional musical inspirations. Listening to his lustrous, Spanish-tinged blues on "Paul Robeson yn canu yn Aberpennar 1938" ("Paul Robeson sings in Mountain Ash 1938")—a celebration of Robeson's memorial concert to the Welsh volunteers who gave their lives fighting for the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War—the spirit of Gil Evans and Miles Davis also looms.

Influences both concrete and suggested aside, the music on Empathy, as on the previous two chapters of the trilogy, sounds remarkably vital and original. This is due, in the main, to Williams' ability to harness highly distinctive musical personalities to his musical vision. First rate musicianship, bold arrangements and resonant historical narratives add up to an exemplary recording. The trilogy may end here, but it will surely endure as a significant musical document as long as Welsh identity and jazz matter.