Sarah Gail Brand is a formidable trombone player who has collaborated with Veryan Weston, Evan Parker, Maggie Nicols and many other musicians. I watched her enthuse and engage a crowd at the London Jazz Platform in 2017, and she has proved herself a huge supporter of and participant in improvised music. She was described by The Wire magazine as “the most exciting trombone player for years,” and I agree with that sentiment.
Now, on All Will Be Said, All to Do Again, the third release on her Regardless label, Sarah Gail Brand unites with Steve Beresford (Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink and many more) on piano and electronics, John Edwards (Evan Parker, John Russell, Peter Brotzmann and more) on double bass and Mark Sanders (Matthew Shipp, Wadado Leo Smith and more) on drums and percussion. This ensemble in itself is exciting, because all the players are respected contributors to the free-jazz and improvised-music scenes of the U.K. and beyond. The end product is All Will Be Said, All to Do Again, which was recorded in front of an invited audience in London and was completely improvised.
From the outset, this is music which grabs attention. The opening track “A Constant Quantity,” at just over 14 minutes, allows each musician to contribute their voice as Sarah Gail Brand’s trombone offers mercuric suggestions which the others pick up, chew over, return and evolve. From gentle intimations to ferocious waves of demonic linked notes, and roots and banshee screeches tempered by gentle key board workings, the music changes and rises and falls, never losing a grip on the communicative essence between the players.
“This One” begins with percussive noises backed by stut notes and intermittent interruptions from the trombone and Mark Sanders’ drums, before Brand sets off a series of short melodic bursts. The track then journeys through a progression of soundscapes, including near silence, until the final picture is created – and it is one of harmonious discordance. Lovely. “Ever Tried” includes some impressive interjections from Steve Beresford’s piano strings over a warping, talking trombone and sawing John Edwards bass lines with a whimsical middle section carefully interplayed amongst the ensemble, before crashing chords from the piano lead the way into a calmer episode.
“Let’s Do Something While We Have the Chance” is gentler all-round with Sarah Gail Brand’s trombone almost “breathing” itself into sentience, while Edwards’ wonderful bass whirls away in the background. Even the spaces have a voice, enhanced by the thunking, voluminous sounds which follow. “Be Again” is a journey across pictorial musical landscapes, traveling from rapid-fiery heights to deep and dark caverns of noise, passing through some picturesque and not-so-picturesque comments on the harmonies, which can exist between like-minded musicians. There are parts of intense excitement and areas of profound contemplation and interplay. This is the stand-out track on All Will Be Said, All to Do Again.
“For Reasons Unknown” is an example of deep-seated understanding between the ensemble and the improvisation takes on a different essence, with lumbering motifs of the trombone taken and moulded by the others, Sanders’ percussion especially adding depths to this track. Searing high bass notes split the air, as Brand works around them and introduces its own melodic- and slightly less melodic takes.
“Let’s Go” starts with Beresford’s gentle, melodic piano, all lightness and dulcet, before disharmony is introduced. Then the lines are gleefully taken, twisted and turned into an immersive first half, led by the keys but developed by the other musicians later in the track. Steve Beresford’s acrobatic piano work is echoed and contrasted by the rhythms of the percussion and bass, while Sarah Gail Brand’s trombone walks its own path across the top. A great track to finish All Will Be Said, All to Do Again with, packed as it is with changes, twists and interesting turns.
This is a great album and one which emphasizes the art of improvisation with ideas swapped, interchanged, developed and returned between the musicians. It’s indicative of acute listening and musicianship. All Will Be Said, All to Do Again? Again and again, we hope.
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