Plan B (UBUNTU)
Kevin Brady Electric Quartet
Released October 15, 2021
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nHeWn_yWcECsxZwubMdAi7onsIvzo_oTI
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About:
The Kevin Brady Electric Quartet has a clear aim of creating and producing new contemporary jazz and the impact of this has been immediate. Their performances have been critically acclaimed for their dynamism and musicality. Touring regularly, they have consolidated their worldwide reputation as a compelling live act. As quoted by The Telegraph UK, “This group display an enviable poise and togetherness”, winning the appreciation of discerning jazz audiences in the USA, Europe, UK, China. Their music embraces imaginative creativity and contributes to the evolution of exciting and engaging improvised music.
Plan B is the latest studio album by acclaimed drummer and composer, Kevin Brady. It features the stellar musical talents of U.S. saxophonist Seamus Blake, Bill Carrothers on Fender Rhodes, and bassist Dave Redmond. Brady’s ambition was to record an album that consisted of new, original compositions that explore improvisation in an electric quartet format. While tipping their collective hat to the music of the 1970s Miles Davis Group, along with the groove and funk based music of Herbie Hancock, many of the musical themes deal with the impact of what is happening in the world as we know it now. The music is hypnotically insistent, all with a lasting story of experience and optimism.
Track Listing:
1. Airbourne (Bill Carrothers) 6:25
2. Plan B (Kevin Brady) 5:39
3. Short ’n‘ Sweet (Bill Carrothers) 8:55
4. Spindle Top (Kevin Brady) 5:19
5. Suicide Squeeze (Kevin Brady) 5:42
6. Quiet Beach (Kevin Brady) 8:22
7. Out Of The Blue (Kevin Brady) 6:21
8. Wanderlust (Bill Carrothers) 9:02
Personnel:
Seamus Blake: tenor saxophone
Bill Carrothers: Fender Rhodes
Dave Redmond: electric bass
Kevin Brady: drums
Recorded in February 2020, at Arthouse Studios, Naas
Recorded, Mixed Kevin Brady
Assistant Engineer Fionn Shelley.
Mastered by Thomas Schmidt
Photography by Daragh Mc’Donagh
Direction and Design by Dseny
Produced by Kevin Brady
Executive-Producer: Martin Hummel
Review:
Kevin Brady is a well-regarded drummer from Ireland. Bassist Dave Redmond is a countryman, while keyboardist Bill Carrothers and saxophonist Seamus Blake are both Americans. When they come together, they create a collective sound that is classicist, yet adventurous enough to insist on its own modernity. The opening “Airbourne” sets the tone nicely; this is not “organ jazz” in the soulful, hard-grooving sense, but traditional hard bop with a little bit of extra funk in the drums and some early ’70s fusion emanating from the Fender Rhodes. Brady’s playing has an organic looseness and room sound that nods to classic ’70s production, while Carrothers’ shimmering keyboard brings to mind Return To Forever before it went full prog rock, with some Larry Young-ish psychedelia here and there. Redmond’s bass is far from superfluous; in fact, his deep, almost dubby lines allow the Fender Rhodes to float like a cloud or deliver stinging solos without having to worry about providing any kind of anchor. And Blake never treats the other three as his backing band; even when he’s soloing, he’s listening. The ironically titled “Short ’n‘ Sweet” (it comes within 10 seconds of being the longest piece on the album) is a fast, almost danceable groove-a-thon that gives every player space to either solo or make an emphatic, but still supportive, statement. While “Suicide Squeeze” is a fascinating blend of bebop fluidity with ’70s soul-jazz. Blake’s long, limber excursions place his impressive technique in service of Grover Washington Jr.- esque melodic hooks.
Philip Freeman (DownBeat)
