ACT, 2015

Gwilym Simcock piano
Martin France drums
Yuri Goloubev Bass
City Of London Sinfonia

Reviews

Peter Wockner, Jazz and Beyond *****

“Cd of the week. Thoroughly recommended”

The Welsh pianist and composer first came to the attention of Australian audiences when he toured with saxophonist Tim Garland in 2009. In Sydney, at the time, he was the talk of the town in the jazz world and with good reason. Since then he has forged his own solo career and is now being described in the same breath as Mehldau and Jarrett. Instrumation, however is just as much a showcase for his creative compositional talent as his pianistic ability. The album delves into two compositional stories; ‘Move’ which includes the City of London Sinfonia and ‘Simple Tales’ which continues the contemporary classical elegance with violin and cello. ‘Move’ is made up of three contrasting movements bridged by two piano interludes. The album really is an epic journey that encompasses a variety of textures and themes from brooding introspection, traditional Welsh folk flavours to the excitingly theatrical. ‘Industrial’ the most compelling, has quite sublime moments interspersed with fusionistic guitar, brassy passages and driving rhythms underscored by an orchestral backbeat to die for. The Celtic folk ‘Dance’ utilises the violin of Thomas Gould and has you feeling like your changing partners in a square dance with its alternating changes and danceable melody. The rhythm section is made up of Martin France on drums and Simcock’s regular bassist Yuri Goloubev. Thoroughly recommended

John Fordham, The Guardian ****

“The suite Move! (for jazz quartet and chamber orchestra) sounds more like jazz-inflected classical music. But if its tight structure, melodic latticework and elegantly harmonised orchestration might appear to evict jazz, the chords and brass parts sometimes suggest Kenny Wheeler, while Simcock’s solo-piano interludes are contrastingly loose and abstract, and the stridently marching Industrial, with its clamouring horns and funky-Jarrett piano break, bustles with spontaneous life.”

Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast

“A gorgeous album.”

Mike Hobart , FT ****

“The composer expertly expands his rhythmic piano style to the larger canvas without straying too far from diatonic principles”

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