Reviews
Yorkshire Post 23rd July 2008
Here's a collaboration between one of Britain's classiest trios and a
sextet of string players for an often quite beautiful programme in which
elements of composed and improvised music find an attractive balance.
Acoustic Triangle - pianist Gwilym Simcock, bassist Malcolm Creese and
saxophonist Tim Garland - have written the music, which includes three
suites. The trio play beautifully and the strings are integrated into
the performances. The music is contemplative in mood, though there's
plenty of passion in it. It's a rewarding listen. AV
The Times June 21, 2008
Speakeasies, bars and juke joints, yes, but only occasionally does jazz
tiptoe into the church.
Acoustic Triangle - the redoubtable trio of Malcolm Creese, bass, Tim
Garland, reeds, and Gwilym Simcock, piano - explore a fertile terrain
where jazz improvisation merges into modern classical music. On their
latest tour the group, plus six string players, are visiting the great
cathedrals of England playing music designed to take advantage of the
luminous acoustics. Propelled by spiky strings or Creese's sinuous bass,
their compositions are full of melody and drama, convincingly merging
notated scores with the explorations of first-rate improvisers. Even the
godless will be charmed.
John Bungey
All About Jazz: October 26, 2008
Britain's Acoustic Triangle has always operated with the distinct
premise of playing only in environments acoustically suited for
completely acoustic performances. Recording with the same devotion to
making the room a fourth member of the group, with no post-production
processing, the trio has gradually shifted further away from overt jazz
references, with Resonance (Audio-B, 2005) moving even closer to a place
where formal composition and improvisation join. More than its earlier
releases, 3 Dimensions is chamber jazz where the trio's classical
upbringing weighs as heavily - perhaps even more so - as the jazz
vernacular.
Woodwind multi-instrumentalist Tim Garland has always led a double life,
comfortable in the more actively improvisational world on Changing
Seasons (Sirocco, 2004) while sliding into a classical environs on the
orchestral The Mystery (Audio-B, 2007), though the latter's inclusion of
solo space hinted at 3 Dimension's direction. Here, with Acoustic
Triangle fleshed out to a nonet with The Sacconi Strings' four violins,
viola and cello, the three suites and two single tunes are inherently
based on fixed form, but solo space still abounds for Garland - whose
mellifluous and lyrically serpentine voice is recognizable, whether on
saxophone, bass clarinet or flute - and pianist Gwilym Simcock, whose
remarkable improvisational skills are belied both by his young age and
relatively recent discovery of jazz, after spending the better part of
his first twenty years occupied the classical sphere.
True to its founding premise, this expanded Acoustic Triangle's tour
made even greater use of the English cathedrals it played in, with its
nine members spread throughout the halls rather than linear across a
stage, effectively placing the audience in the midst of a warm, natural
soundscape. Despite the greater challenge of reproducing this
surrounding, three dimensional audioscape on a stereo recording,
bassist/producer Malcolm Creese has, with mixing assistance from
Garland, Simcock and Andrew Tulloch, created an aural landscape as full
and enveloping as its performances.
3 Dimensions represents another first for Acoustic Triangle - all the
writing is original, from Garland and Simock, though the pianist's
tango-esque "Fundero" and saxophonist's poignant "The Moon For Her" have
both been heard before. Still, in this string-laden context, both tunes
take on greater significance. Garland's two new suites - the five-part
"Sanctuary for Living Memory" and four-part "Singing Stones" - combine a
broad cross-section of classical references, ranging from jaggedly
contemporary to romantically impressionistic, with open passages where
Garland, Simcock and Creese are featured. Simcock's three-part "Red Sky"
demonstrates equal breadth, its first movement a combination of angular
flute lines soaring over flittering pizzicati and Simcock's own
heralding French horn.
Despite its self-imposed touring limitations, Acoustic Triangle's
gradually growing discography faithfully captures an organic philosophy
that's increasingly appealing in a world where sonic overload is an
undesirable fact of life. Whether cerebrally challenging or emotionally
accessible, 3 Dimensions captures Acoustic Triangle at a pivotal point,
where two worlds no longer exist separately. Instead, classical form and
improvisational freedom coalesce into a beautiful sound world of
considered invention and unfettered spontaneity.
John Kelman
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30921
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