Disassembler's New Album 'what is' out now on jazzcds.co.uk:
“Warren's striking themes and rousing arrangements lift it far above the contemporary Euro-jazz throng.” The Guardian
“..a jewel of an album..” Allaboutjazz
(Jazz Granada) 4 out of 5
John Fordham guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 March 2010 22.20 GMT
Disassembler features the compositions of its guitarist/leader Trevor Warren and the distinctive solo voices of trombonist Annie Whitehead and saxophonist Mark Lockheart. Warren's striking themes and rousing arrangements lift it far above the contemporary Euro-jazz throng. The opening Flicker is a typical piece of Warren teasing, with its curling, long-lined horn melody rolling out over drummer Winston Clifford's fast groove. Flicker's melody-resolution sounds as if it should belong to a much shorter tune �” so the long postponement of its arrival becomes irresistibly fascinating. Reggaeton is a luxurious repeating-note trombone theme punctuated by lazy slurs, driven by a bumping Caribbean groove, and galvanised by a fine Whitehead solo. Pop 2 recalls the swaggering directness of the old Mike Westbrook band, before it unexpectedly turns into a funk hook for the guitar, with Lockheart's soprano sax wrapping round it, in a manner that hints at Miles Davis's In a Silent Way. Spacey low-end tone-poetry for trombone, tenor sax and inventive bassist Dudley Phillips, and the Crusaders-like jive of Great Leap Forward are other standouts on an unusual set, finely balancing quality composition and improv.
Fear is the Mother of Violence - Disassembler
“Warren himself is more prominent than on the previous album, his “distressed” post-Hendrix guitar, artfully blending rock sonics with a jazz sensibility” Chris May at Allaboutjazz
Jazzwise, (Robert Shore), November 2008 Tasty, groove-based musical stew...the underlying vibe is surprisingly gentle and danceable...new drummer Clifford brings a fresh, funky feel to the sextet's lyrical workouts, and other new recruits Whitehead and Priseman add fresh colours to the bands sound palette.
John Kelman at Allaboutjazz.com writes: “...(one of) the premier contemporary jazz units in Britain...”
“...picking out individuals isn’t the point �” this is just a brilliant ensemble.” MusicMetal.com
“They rock too.” Time Out
Jazz Disassembler
*** Vortex, London
John Fordham Friday June 27, 2008 The Guardian
The name suggests a bone-crunching thrash-metal jazz outfit - but British guitarist Trevor Warren's group is actually a warm horn-dominated ensemble boasting some pedigree improvisers. This week's lineup featured resourceful drummer Winston Clifford, with trombonist Annie Whitehead expanding the usual quintet to six.
Warren was taught by John Etheridge and John Parricelli. He hints at the idiomatic broadness of both - but his jazz, Indian and African music interests lead him to composing rather than improvising, and he takes a low profile as a soloist. Here, Clifford, hunched over his kit, was a magician performing steadily ticking grooves and shuffles, softly jolting fills, and seductive shapes that drew fresh phrasing from the soloists, Whitehead in particular. Album title-track Fear Is the Mother of Violence began as a loose improv jostle that swelled to a mix of long brass sounds reminiscent of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Whitehead then ran through her rich repertoire of shapely boppish figures, abstract sawing sounds and sly whispers over Dudley Phillips' rugged bass-repeat. The later stages found the band blossoming, any early lack of cohesion now overcome. Warren's insistent guitar underpinned the hypnotic brass motif of the second-set opener, with Clifford inspirational under the dark, brooding horn of Precious Time.
Allaboutjazz 2005
Trevor Warren | 33 Jazz
By Chris May
A lyrical and gently trippy album in which Trevor Warren, previously best known as leader of the world/jazz band Deva, brings together free improv, groove, and rock with music from India, the Middle East, and Africa. It whispers rather than shouts, and the prominent access-all-genres presence of saxophonist Mark Lockheart and drummer Seb Rochford gives it something of the flavour of Polar Bear in that group's more reflective moments.
Warren took the title Disassembler from Eric Dexler's book on nanotechnology, Engines of Creation. But while this is intimate and mostly delicate music, it certainly isn't minimalist: there is forward movement and linear development aplenty. It is, however, meditative, an oasis of unhurried reflection amongst the noise and clutter which otherwise bombard us.
The most frequently heard soloist is Lockheart, and much of the album features him in dialogue with either Warren, Rochford, or trumpeter Loz Speyer. The template is established on the opening Engines Of Creation, a serpentine, Indian-inspired tune which features Lockheart's quietly explorative tenor, even his multiphonic passages are sotto voce over Rochford's hypnotic toms and a delicate guitar and bass backdrop. Lockheart stays with the tenor for most of the album, switching to bass clarinet for Strange Salute and soprano for Dragon's Breath.
Warren, who wrote all the tunes, concerns himself more with creating background soundscapes than taking solos, the only real guitar solos, cool fusions of jazz, rock, and ragacome on It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time and the relatively upbeat Baby and Nothing To Pay Until....
Disassembler doesn't force itself on you. If you don't make a conscious effort to focus on it, it could pass you by. But there is a quiet profundity about the recording, and if you slow
down, centre yourself, and cut out the world around you for a while, you'll likely find it a refreshing and restorative experience.
Jazz Review Magazine September 2005
“...(Warren) picks cyclically, with a spangled tone, perched somewhere adjacent to the sounds of Bill Frisell, Ry Cooder and John Abercrombie.
On the opening “Engines Of Creation”, Sebastian Rochford maintains a rapping snare figure, Dudley Phillips worms out an intestinal bassline, whilst Mark Lockheart blows a red-cheeked tenor solo. This is a configuration that sets the tone and pace for much of the subsequent proceedings, with the Disassembler crew dedicated to the exploration of accumulated textures, evolving rhythms and sustained thoughtfulness. Lockheart is the chief soloist, but his bandmates usually keep up a constant weaving of melodic interaction, following the way of the democratic voice. Although this could loosely be called a groove project, its funk is mostly mellow, but not sickly in its lightness. The Disassembler feel isn't anywhere near as scrap- heaped as their name suggests. They prefer to spray the automobile in a soft lather rather than crush its mangled parts into a dry cube. This is no bad deal, as their introversion has a meaningful pulse, and is never mellow equalling bland.”
MARTIN LONGLEY
Jazz Review magazine for September 2005, page 42
Jazzwise magazine September 2005
“..Saxophonist Mark Lockheart and drummer Seb Rochford bring the creativity and energy levels you would expect to Warren's music, but the guitarist himself is by no means overshadowed. His playing is heavily influenced by rock(the Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana came to mind at different points) and ethnic musics, and his compositions and rhythmic grooves which reveal similar influences provide good platforms for improvisation and group interaction, while at the same time avoiding the staple forms and routines of a mainstream jazz approach. Loz Speyer adds atmospheric trumpet alongside Lockheart's horns on selected tracks, and Dudley Phillips does his usual impeccable job on bass.”
Kenny Mathieson
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