From Amazon.co.uk
Footloose and Fancy Free is a new two-CD set from drummer-leader Bruford's working band, and it stems from an on-location recording at London's Pizza Express in summer 2001. The Earthworks band on this date had Patrick Clahar on saxes, Steve Hamilton on piano, Mark Hodgson on bass and of course Bruford himself behind the kit. The music--in the classic acoustic jazz quartet formulation--is dynamic and disciplined, as any long-term Bruford follower would expect, and his latest band delivers the goods both at speed and at more leisurely tempos. As Bruford says in the liner notes, "Being a performing artist doesn't mean being able to do it once perfectly in perfect conditions, rather it means being able to do it imperfectly in imperfect conditions night after night. That's when you polish the diamond." There is a high degree of sheen on these tracks, and although saxophonist Clahar is lacking an original tenor or sax voice, hewing too close to Coltrane and Brecker, the sheer spirit of the band carries the listener through such concerns. This is two CDs of high-class jazz from a master musician and his current group.
--Keith Shadwick
Album Details