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Andrew McCormack Trio
Live in London
Edition ****

Andrew McCormack was one of the rising stars of the Dune years, when the record label, currently on hiatus since the release of Denys Baptiste’s Identity By Subtraction, for more than a decade was the incubator of such talents as the pianist, saxophone stars Soweto Kinch and Baptiste, and many more. Telescope, his debut for the label still stands tall from that now distant period.

Much more recently playing in duo with alto saxophonist Jason Yarde, or as a member of bassist Kyle Eastwood’s band, McCormack’s latest record Live in London released as a download-only album on Monday features instead his trio of bassist Chris Hill and drummer Troy Miller, and as indicated in the title was recorded in the capital, at Chelsea’s 606.

Most of the tunes are McCormack’s, typically sincere, and serious, yet also possessing an underlying, beautiful, sense of melancholy that lifts rather than drags you to the depths of despair.

The other tunes are the standards ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’, and ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’, maybe not the most exciting choices, but delivered with personality. I have seen this trio live, at the Green Note in Camden, and the rapport the three demonstrated some five years or so ago was immediately clear then and on this live document. Hill is Jamie Cullum’s bassist these days and Miller a busy session man, a player blessed with perfect timing, taste, and intuitive interpretative rhythmical ability who also plays with such fine guitar talents as Femi Temowo. I caught Troy and Femi playing together at the Late Late show in Ronnie Scott’s just last month and I was very impressed indeed with Miller, and this album is further proof.

So it’s a trio of strong players, in their prime, and McCormack’s material is up to the task. In his tunes, such as opener ‘Antibes’, and the quietly dogged ‘Junket’ he knows how to shape the composition, building tension, releasing that dramatic menace in an organic flow, and making his music as interpreted in the trio format appear like a conversation that has the potential to go off somewhere unexpected.

The improvising frequently embarks on ambitious detours which Hill and Miller steer adroitly. I like the way the 606 audience applause has been captured, it’s not intrusive or there to stoke the ego of the performers by its inclusion, simply part of the narrative arc of the record that more clinical records tend to forget.

McCormack at times reminds me of Keith Jarrett when he plays a beautiful balladic phrase, and ‘Junket’ is where you’ll hear this influence strongly. But McCormack retains his own identity, and the musicianship, empathy and quality of writing makes this a pleasure from start to finish. The trio form suits McCormack, and it’s a different kind of trio here than many new ones appearing this year, with others often labouring under the understandable shadow of the music of EST. This isn’t the case at all here, a sign of McCormack’s focus and ideas. It’s a breakthrough modern sounding album without being remotely avant garde or overly ambitious, but one that once again reminds the scene of McCormack’s great ability and flair, but one that also points to his growing confidence as a composer,

Stephen Graham

 
Andrew McCormack, pictured above