Jazz Northampton - NCJazz - promoting contemporary jazz in Northampton and Northants
Calling the Younger Generation
Thursday 14 April - Killer Shrimp
In the early 1950s, the late baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan, caused a stir by leading the first 'pianoless' quartet. The received wisdom was that, without the soft notes of the piano, jazz would be too harsh and strident for mainstream enjoyment. What followed, however, was the emergence of the highly popular California 'West Coast Cool School' which not only spawned the legendary trumpeter, Chet Baker, but also added a new dimension to the jazz genre.
Killer Shrimp adopts a similar approach. Leader, Damon Brown, plays trumpet and cornet, Ed Jones, plays tenor saxophone, and the rhythm section consists of Mark Hodges, bass, with Alan Cosker on drums. However, to cement the link between the front line and the rhythm, Killer Shrimp employ 'electronica' a form of electronically synthesised sounds.
The first note of Damon Brown's cornet set the tone for the whole gig. The high-octane attack of the front line was heavily laden with hard-bop and jazz rock. It was easy to understand why so many of the younger generation were in the audience. This was fierce, driving, cutting-edge jazz taking no prisoners.
The opening number, Roughneck Blues was a powerful boppish tune taken at a brisk pace. After a rasping solo from Jones, reminiscent of Sonny Rollins, Brown followed with a snappy break, his staccato phrasing not dissimilar from his namesake, the late Clifford Brown. The result was an offering, as with many others that followed, that seemed firmly embedded in early 1960s be-bop.
'Electronica' was introduced for It never happened, which opened with a lively 'Afro-type' rhythm in which the 'call and response' origins of jazz were clearly identifiable. The effect was to underpin and then broaden the sound of the percussion without compromising its function and to add a new dimension to the performance.
The fervent energy of the group with its wide range of rhythmic settings continued unabated throughout the gig, with only a modest let-up for the silky Body and Soul, featuring intensely emotional and intimate solos from both Brown and Jones.
The commitment of both to their music is abundantly clear. All but two of the numbers were original compositions. Damon Brown grips the cornet tightly, his body swaying instinctively as he weaves his improvisational patterns. Jones expresses himself with sharp 'bobbing' movements as he coaxes the required sounds required from his saxophone.
Sound textures are a key element for the group, typified by Brown's repeated amplification of the mute on his cornet. The insinuation of 'electronica' enables the combo to introduce intricate and spontaneous variations of sound and rhythm at every opportunity. Maryelist, for instance, began as a pounding Latin-American rock and ended as a mode of jazz fusion. Alan Cosker was stole the limelight with a spectacular solo in which he applied the full range of his skills in a virtual frenzy.
Not to be outshone, bassist, Mark Hodges, an unsung hero who cemented the combo excellently, plucked an equally impressive solo in the Benny Golson tune, Along came Betty.
This was a consummate performance by a combo occupying a hard-bop berth which has much to say to younger audiences in terms of the power and originality of the musical interpretation of its compositions.
Reflecting on his interest in jazz, Killer Shrimp leader, Ed Damon, explained, "I first started in jazz by listening to some of the famous Miles Davis albums, you know, Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain. I liked the sound, even though I didn't really understand the music at the time!"
"Later on," he continued, "my studies with the trumpet were influenced by some of the major players at the time - particularly, Clifford Brown, Blue Mitchell (an unsung hero, he suggests), Freddy Hubbard and Wilbur Hardin."
Killer Shrimp's music is "rooted in hard bop," he explains, "but we've added IT to the mix. Our Electronica instrumentation, based on IT, adds a very contemporary sound and another dimension. Remember that we have no piano or guitar in the quartet. We use Electronica to fill this gap and to act as a template for exploring other genres of jazz. We're always trying to develop new and different sounds and Electronica helps us to do it. We've featured it on both our albums (SincerelyWhatever and Whatever Sincerely), it's more prominent on the second one."
Killer Shrimp looks set to develop an increasingly emphatic profile. "I've two major projects on at the moment, one of which is Killer Shrimp," he says. "We want to develop the band's reputation for straight-ahead jazz as well as an innovative approach to the music. We'd like to record a new CD in a couple of years which will show how our ideas have developed.
"We want to introduce as many people as possible to our ideas. It's always especially pleasing to see young people in the audience. It's good to get across to them and it gives us a broad cross-section of people who want to hear us."
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