Buy individual tracks from the album Mesmer
On Mesmer we have the youthful talents of Tom
Arthurs the Babel label Flugelhornist and Richard Fairhurst who released
his first album at the age of 19 under the tutelage of Iain Ballamy. Through
those Hungry Ants albums Fairhurst has developed into a formidable force as both
a pianist and composer. The tunes on this album are far removed from the
percussive, post Loose Tubes numbers Fairhurst was first committing to CD, but
they are all the more refined and personal statements because of it.
"Fairhurst is a fine pianist who plays with an inventiveness beyond his 23 years." John Lewis - Time Out
"Tom Arthurs sounds as if he has a lot of fascinating music to come." John Fordham - The Guardian
Listen to samples of Mesmer
Click here to buy the full album
Click here to send this album as a gift
|
Album Information:
Lets play a game of guess who. Two British based musicians, one plays flugelhorn and the other piano. Who am I talking about? Kenny Wheeler would be an obvious answer, so would John Taylor for piano, but alas, in this instance you would be wrong.
On Mesmer we have the youthful talents of Tom Arthurs the Babel label Flugelhornist and Richard Fairhurst who released his first album at the age of 19 under the tutelage of Iain Ballamy. Through those Hungry Ants albums Fairhurst has developed into a formidable force as both a pianist and composer. The tunes on this album are far removed from the percussive, post Loose Tubes numbers Fairhurst was first committing to CD, but they are all the more refined and personal statements because of it.
Beautiful Indifference is the opening piano solo, composed by Arthurs, in which Fairhurst noodles around harmonic changes which remind one of Bartoks Romanian folk dances sparse, foreboding and stark performed with the delicacy and finesse one associates with the modern European school of jazz. Such characteristics are threaded throughout the album, but the playful nature in which Fairhurst and Arthurs weave their melodic lines is aurally captivating.
Harmonically Arthurs and Fairhurst have restricted their palette to repetitive etude-style structures. This simplicity not only allows Arthurs and Fairhurst to dual freely in their own musical tundra, but it also emphasises the intimate nature of the album, as though we the listener are eavesdropping on a rehearsal.
Arthurs also gets his own solo space the brilliantly titled The Great Unwashed in which he utilises his command for the Flugelhorn to create a foundation of interspersed percussive stutters, propping up a sighing melody.
However the tunes in which Fairhurst and Arthurs combine forces are the real draw to this album, Furuncle being one shining example. The opening mid-range piano vamp, allowing Arthur to be introduced in a manner reminiscent of the Jarrett/Wheeler affair Gnu High, is constantly interrupted by passages of free-playing textural experimentation. This album is a modern British beauty, and should be seen as a benchmark in the career of these two ambassadors to their art.
Click here to send this album as a gift
|
|
 |
|
