Richard Iles

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Tim Garland Northern Undergound Orchestra

   

Asaf Sirkis drums
Phil Donkin bass
Gwilym Simcock fender rhodes
Stuart McCallum guitar
Ryan Quigley trumpets
Richard Iles trumpet
Graham Hardy trumpet
Andy Schofield saxes
Lewis Watson tenor sax
Tim Garland saxes
Paul Booth saxes
Barnaby Dickinson trombone
Hannah Jones vocals

Reviewed: Tim Garland’s Northern Underground — Due North (Jazzaction) Cat. No. JA11 Release date: November 2007
1. We Got A Future Together (4:31)
2. Toon Town (5:19)
3. Just For Now (3:58)
4. Tynemouth Spray (6:52)
5. Prelude (7:40)
6. Flag March (4:47)
7. God Bless The Child (5:15)
8. Red Ellen (8:39)
9. Voyage Of Discovery (5:56)
10. Angel Of The North (6:49)

JAZZWISE REVIEW

Tim Garland's Northern Underground Orchestra - Purcell Room, Wednesday 21 Nov - London Jazz Festival

Tim Garland certainly has the skill of a true showman.  His performance with The Northern Underground Orchestra in the intimate Purcell Room was expertly choreographed from beginning to end and never lost sight of the band’s interaction with the audience.  Garland made sure that this was an accessible gig for all as he introduced the pieces, players and their respective instruments at every opportunity.  However, making the music comprehensible to any potential lay listeners in no way limited the scope of the evening’s proceedings.
From the breathy and intensely personal solos through to the full traditional big band sound the standard of playing never dropped.  The thirteen musicians on stage included a formally arranged brass section and a rhythm section including piano, bass, guitar and drums.  Garland took centre stage, holding the band together with his numerous saxophones and even a flute.

Although the really successful moments of the evening were achieved when the big band style took over, it seemed a shame that the less traditional rhythm side of the band wasn’t given the same space.  On the piano and keyboard, Gwilym Simcock desperately pushed the music in a looser direction, but despite an evocative rendition of his own piece ‘Chorale’, he was given few chances to really shine.  

A fantastic addition to the line up was soul singer Hannah Jones, who joined the NUO with her powerful and seemingly boundless vocals.  Jones’ interpretation of the Billie Holiday song ‘God Bless the Child’ was impressively fresh, with real emotion imbibing every word she uttered.  With technically complex solos from Andy Schofield on alto sax, and of course from Garland on a whole variety of instruments, every note played tonight was the epitome of professionalism, but it wouldn’t have hurt to let the formal structure slip just a bit.

Catherine Marks
 
 
 
GUARDIAN REVIEW

Tim Garland Northern Underground Orchestra, Due North
 

 

 

 

UK saxophonist Tim Garland was promising, both as a soloist and as a folk-oriented composer, from the early 1990s, but he was a slow developer until the millennium. Now there's no stopping him, with a Chick Corea partnership, big- and small-band projects, new compositions and his growing knack for delivering the killer solo that turns a gig. This outfit - currently touring - features Garland and pianist/composer Gwilym Simcock on a gospel- and soul-inflected repertoire, hitched to the most garrulously fluent, sophisticated and playfully tailchasing of big-band charts. Hannah Jones, a powerful R&B singer with a cello-like vibrato, takes two Garland songs and the classic God Bless the Child, though a fussy arrangement makes her skid insecurely around the latter. But the scoring animates even the slighter melodies. The star soloists are Garland (Michael Brecker-ish at times), punchy tenorist Paul Booth, the ever-awesome Simcock, and the gifted northern guitarist Stuart McCallum. The band fizz with a New York swagger, and are seductively sumptuous on Simcock's romantic Prelude. Occasionally there is a one-damn-thing-after-another feel about the album, but it's mostly very classy. (JOHN FORDHAM)