DYLAN HOWE - Subterranean
Motorik Recordings MR1004
Dylan Howe (drums) Mark Hodgson ( double bass) Ross Stanley (piano & synthesisers) Brandon Allen & Julian Siegel ( tenor saxes) with Nick Pini (double-bass) Adrian Utley (guitar) Steve Howe (koto)
Recorded at various studios in London, no specific dates given
This new release by British drummer, Dylan Howe, his first studio album in ten years, has taken seven years to produce and derives its inspiration from rock star, David Bowie’s `Berlin Trilogy` of albums which in turn were heavily influenced by the avant-garde elements evident in the musical genre known as `Krautrock` and characterised by sombre electronic ambient sounds redolent of the `cold war` ennui typical of the era in which it was concieved. Howe takes a selection of pieces from those albums – mostly `Low` which featured several purely instrumental pieces – and successfully re-invents them as vehicles for powerful jazz interpretation without compromising their brooding film –noir qualities. The resulting amalgam makes for a suite of music that fulfils its dark metaphysical ambitions whilst delivering some hard driving ,cutting edge jazz improvisation. Though it is a product of a different era one could say that as a concept album `Subterranean` ranks alongside Gil Evans’s collaborations with Miles Davis and George Russell’s wonderful sonic invocation of New York as well as the bleak musical panorama created by Elmer Bernstein for `Sweet Smell of Success`. All were an inspired combination of jazz and orchestral impressionism and whilst, in this case, the harmonic backdrop is synthesised sound the effect is no less dramatic.
The centre piece of the suite is `Warszawa`, a powerful modal tune created by Bowie in collaboration with Brian Eno, taken from the album ‘Low` , and which has an art –house cinematic quality whilst providing a platform for a torrid sax solo from Brandon Allen and some terrifically nuanced and ferociously driven drumming on the part of the leader. These jazz interjections are woven into the fabric of the other pieces some of which, like Bowie’s homage to Berlin’s Neukölln district feature a piano trio giving voice to the articulate deliberations of Ross Stanley who also doubles on synths to generate the bulk of the existentialist harmonies that impart the nihilistic feel of Bowie’s original score. Solo wise Allen and Stanley take major honours with energetic passages that effectively temper the prevailing zeitgeist of bleak despair inherent in the Bowie`s angst laden musicalconception.
You won’t have to be a David Bowie aficionado or know anything of his famous `Berlin` albums to understand this album but if you appreciate jazz that invokes a powerful atmosphere whilst delivering solid, substantive solo work this disc will intrigue and delight. `Low` inspired the American minimalist composer, Phillip Glass to compose a symphony which launched his career as a composer of international significance :wouldn’t it be nice if Dylan Howe’s creation received similar attention – you can do your bit by buying the CD , a purchase that won’t disappoint.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Motorik Recordings MR1004
Dylan Howe (drums) Mark Hodgson ( double bass) Ross Stanley (piano & synthesisers) Brandon Allen & Julian Siegel ( tenor saxes) with Nick Pini (double-bass) Adrian Utley (guitar) Steve Howe (koto)
Recorded at various studios in London, no specific dates given
This new release by British drummer, Dylan Howe, his first studio album in ten years, has taken seven years to produce and derives its inspiration from rock star, David Bowie’s `Berlin Trilogy` of albums which in turn were heavily influenced by the avant-garde elements evident in the musical genre known as `Krautrock` and characterised by sombre electronic ambient sounds redolent of the `cold war` ennui typical of the era in which it was concieved. Howe takes a selection of pieces from those albums – mostly `Low` which featured several purely instrumental pieces – and successfully re-invents them as vehicles for powerful jazz interpretation without compromising their brooding film –noir qualities. The resulting amalgam makes for a suite of music that fulfils its dark metaphysical ambitions whilst delivering some hard driving ,cutting edge jazz improvisation. Though it is a product of a different era one could say that as a concept album `Subterranean` ranks alongside Gil Evans’s collaborations with Miles Davis and George Russell’s wonderful sonic invocation of New York as well as the bleak musical panorama created by Elmer Bernstein for `Sweet Smell of Success`. All were an inspired combination of jazz and orchestral impressionism and whilst, in this case, the harmonic backdrop is synthesised sound the effect is no less dramatic.
The centre piece of the suite is `Warszawa`, a powerful modal tune created by Bowie in collaboration with Brian Eno, taken from the album ‘Low` , and which has an art –house cinematic quality whilst providing a platform for a torrid sax solo from Brandon Allen and some terrifically nuanced and ferociously driven drumming on the part of the leader. These jazz interjections are woven into the fabric of the other pieces some of which, like Bowie’s homage to Berlin’s Neukölln district feature a piano trio giving voice to the articulate deliberations of Ross Stanley who also doubles on synths to generate the bulk of the existentialist harmonies that impart the nihilistic feel of Bowie’s original score. Solo wise Allen and Stanley take major honours with energetic passages that effectively temper the prevailing zeitgeist of bleak despair inherent in the Bowie`s angst laden musicalconception.
You won’t have to be a David Bowie aficionado or know anything of his famous `Berlin` albums to understand this album but if you appreciate jazz that invokes a powerful atmosphere whilst delivering solid, substantive solo work this disc will intrigue and delight. `Low` inspired the American minimalist composer, Phillip Glass to compose a symphony which launched his career as a composer of international significance :wouldn’t it be nice if Dylan Howe’s creation received similar attention – you can do your bit by buying the CD , a purchase that won’t disappoint.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon