Mark Cherrie Quartet Live at The Verdict Jazz Club

Name: Mark Cherrie Quartet Live at The Verdict Jazz Club
Start: 2024-11-15T21:30:00+01:00
End: 2024-11-16T00:00:00+01:00
Location: Verdict Jazz

Schedule

Fri Nov 15 2024 at 09:30 pm to Sat Nov 16 2024 at 12:00 am

UTC+01:00

Location

Verdict Jazz | Brighton, EN

The UK’s Finest Exporter Of Steel Pan Jazz Returns With Deep And Personal New Album
Mark Cherrie - steel pan
John Donaldson - piano
Tom Mason - acoustic bass
Eric Ford - drums
Any Anxious Colour is the new album by The Mark Cherrie Quartet. Written and arranged by the steel pan aficionado during the dreaded lockdown period of 2020, this new recording marks a change of approach from the quartet’s previous album ‘Joining in The Dots’, as Mark explains: “Seeing as the band hadn’t released an album since 2018, I thought it high time that we had some new tunes to play (and ultimately record), so I set quill to paper. Joining The Dots was more weighted towards covers of both pop and jazz classics and I had thought that the new album would take the same shape, but with my imagination being given free rein, I found that these tunes virtually wrote themselves and there was little room for covers.”
The result of this is a deep dive in to the psyche of a creative mind, projecting a set of unique songs that are as varied as they are exciting. Mark was keen to explore some other musical idioms too, including a nod to calypso music, his favourite period being from the 50’s to the late ‘60s. Mark observes that “Ole Mas came out fully formed in no more than five minutes. Sometimes composition to me feels more tuning the dial of some cosmic radio.” The process was further enhanced by Mark Cherrie’s experience on BBC One’s hit TV programme ‘The Repair Shop’, who brought one of his old tenor pans back to life, which he then used during the recording of his new work. Mark comments: “My dad had two tenor pans made by Lincoln Noel, considered by many to be one of the great Trinidadian pan tuners. Despite being twin pans, one of them was vastly superior to the other and so I gigged with the better one in my dad’s band for quite a few years. The poor brother pan was left languishing in a sorry state, never having been gigged. It was this pan that received the Repair Shop treatment and it miraculously sprang back to life, almost as if it had spent decades in a kind of coma.” He goes on to say that: “The steel pan of course has no particular history in jazz music itself, unlike many other instruments. Whilst some might regard this as a hindrance, I always felt that this was in fact liberating, since as a writer & player, I didn’t feel particularly married to any period of jazz’s rich history. It enabled me to dance around any era of jazz’s evolution.”
Joining Mark Cherrie on Any Anxious Colour are John Donaldson on piano, Tom Mason on acoustic bass and Eric Ford on drums, with special guest vocals from Chantelle Duncan, percussion from Fergus Gerrand and tenor sax from Dave O’Higgins. “When I write, I always have the musicians in the band in mind, with the knowledge that they will always bring their own musicality to the project.” Says Mark. “I have always thought that with improvised music, it is essential to pick musicians carefully and to allow them to express themselves freely. The musicians in this quartet are not only technically excellent but have a keen awareness of what their bandmates are playing in the moment and react to it. And speaking of musicians, sadly Mick Hutton was unable to participate but Eric recommended Tom Mason, who turned out to be superlative. A top chap all round.”
Discussing each player, Mark says that “John brings his imaginative approach to improvising, encompassing a deep understanding of bebop without overplaying and lightness of touch, when necessary. Eric plays like no other drummer I’ve ever worked with. It’s all there for me, swing, knowledge of rhythms, effortless ability to switch time signatures and seemingly endless creativity. And he loves to give me a good kick up my rhythmic arse, ha ha! Tom really is a complete bass player. He has great tone, time and his intonation is spot on. Oh, and he is totally at home improvising too, with ideas on tap and the ability to navigate his way intelligently through changes.”
Talent and sincerity shine through in droves on Any Anxious Colour, clearly a stand out release this year and something with the potential to be viewed as a seminal recording for decades to come.