Tim Garland, Enter the Fire, CD review by John McBeath, courtesy The Australian
This six track album from UK saxophonist Tim Garland marks the reunion of the original British band that recorded Enter The Fire in 1997. Garland has performed widely in the UK and toured internationally, occasionally with legendary pianist/composer Chick Corea, a continuing collaboration.
None of the previous album tracks are repeated here but four of the numbers are Garland originals with the title song, a post-bop theme, taken at the liveliest tempo with driving solos from pianist Jason Rebello, Gerard Presencer on trumpet and Garland’s fast-leaping tenor.
Taken at a slower pace the classic ballad Lament, by trombonist J. J. Johnson is a deliciously unhurried piece with an extended lyrical passage from Garland’s soprano sax with sympathetic piano backing.
Garland also plays soprano on his composition Valse for Ravel where the theme features trumpet and soprano in a semi-classical duo with piano. Long considered a foremost performer on bass clarinet, Garland takes up that instrument for another of his originals, All Our Summers, executing some ingenious counterpoint with Ant Law’s guitar plus Rebello’s propulsive contributions on fender Rhodes.
McCoy Tyner’s Search for Peace receives the ballad treatment it warrants with all the virtues of the swing and ethos of the sort of acoustic quintet celebrated in the Miles Davis bands, again with the fitting solo work of Garland’s tenor.
In many ways this album pays homage to a potent time in jazz history with the classic sound of a sax and trumpet jazz quintet of yesteryear presented and updated by some of the UK’s top-flight musicians.
