Canterbury Scene

This very neat CD reminds me of a reply Thelonious Monk gave a not-too-with-it journalist '" who asked him where jazz was going. The Hatted One's response: "Where's jazz going? I don't know where jazz is going. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere.. It just happens." Sounds a little off-hand, until you hear THE SWIMMER and you find out that like the previous Hopper/Clarke/Knight CD (THE MIND IN THE TREES, on Voiceprint, that one with Elton Dean as fourth), all of this was improvised. Ponsford is possessed of a creamy alto, equally reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in the 19705 and Ella Fitzgerald just about any time. Well, that's it, man, I'm in love. And she returns it: trills, bobcat scat, interior monologues of which we can maybe grasp the shape but not the content, scraps of folksongs she just made up, and whispered answers to the other three's questions. Whatever they were. She will also nick the odd note off what one of her partners is doing and jounce away on that implied track. Sure would like to hear what she could do with some old Harold Arlen or Jule Styne ditties. Hopper is as much fun to listen to as is Ponsford, switching from guitar to bass and back, rubbernecking sans fuzz and generally playing the part of the slippery catfish. That he has shifted himself to a supporting role doesn't really seem to change his general attack other than making it a little more difficult to dig him out of the mix. But he's he only one who could linchpin the session in .. quite this way. Fran Knight spends more time on piano here than she did on MIND IN THE : TREES, recalling Richard Beirach now and again (in fact there is an occasional ECM chamber- jazz feel here that waxes and wanes), but there is also a lovely bit early on ("True Story") which is largely a duet between Knight's agile accordion and Ponsford in a decidedly Andalusian mood. Just wonderful, full stop. "Uszibarasc" moves more in the direction of chromaticism up front, Knight recalling Herbie Hancock setting out the chords to "Stella by Starlight" while drummer Vince Clarke (ex-Polite Force and several Richard Sinclair R.S.V.P. band line-ups) sticks to the cymbals. Ponsford enters here as if in a dream, off-quoting a run of 3 notes from the chorus of "Good Morning Heartache" and ambling away elsewhere, then cutting up later on with furious whispers as Knight bottoms out on the keyboard. "In a Temperamental Mood" is spikier; Clarke enters the conversation with his snares bouncing while Ponsford and Knight whirligig, and after some trampolining in this direction they pull back and exhale again. By now I think we've learned never to expect the same thing twice from Hugh Hopper and anybody else he hauls along; this is yet another example of that. Get it. Now.

Ken Egbert (TONE CLUSTERS)

Hugh Hopper is ever the surprising chap, always trying new, different musical avenues. Here he's having a go with that atmospheric kind of ECM type jazzy thing, where nimble creation and diversion, mix and clash, with instrumental textures and breezy female vocals. Alex Cline, Azimuth or Michael Mantler is the area I'm thinking of, although this is markedly different, not least with Hugh's bass, but in Jan Ponsford's restrained vocalising. Frances Knight plays her keyboards firmly in the Euro/Canterbury-jazz mould, ably supported by Vince Clarke's 60's styled nimble drum-work. On the whole, this one of the jazziest things Hugh's done since the days of his Franglo-Dutch band, and adds another surprise to his ever diversifying CV of releases.

Alan Freeman (AUDION)

Jan Ponsford's wordless vocals on The Swimmer skitter seamlessly across jazz, South American and Eastern European influences. It's a blend that is now de rigeur for British female 'jazz' vocalists, so it's easy to forget that Ponsford was one of the originators of the style. Pianist Frances Knight, doubling here on accordion, is always a pleasure, too rarely heard - her light, easy, free-ranging touch providing the atmospherics. Yet another ex-Soft Machine alumni, Hugh Hopper, adds sinuous electric basslines on this one, demonstrating again what an individual player he is. And drummer Vince Clarke frames each twist, and there are several, with a spontaneous precision. My only complaint is that Ponsford remains too high in the mix for too long for the delights of the other three to be truly savoured. Chris Blackford review in RUBBERNECK

Chris Blackford (RUBBERNECK)