Disc of the day: 12-11-09

Outhouse: Ruhabi (Loop Records LOOP 1009)
The coming together of the London jazz quartet and the five Sabar drummers from The Gambia is best experienced live, I think, but then you could say that of most jazz. On disc it still has a lot to recommend it, though, especially if you haven’t had the chance to see and hear the band in the flesh.

The opener, Mam Bamba, is very much a piece of two halves (although unlike football games both show strong play) – the drummers first setting out their stall, then the jazz band theirs. Having understood the constituent elements, we can then get really into the way they mix on track two: Duck Dance (Leumbeul). In some ways, while Outhouse’s bass and drums team of Johnny Brierly and Dave Smith can get in amongst the Sabar drummers, the saxophonists, Robin Fincker and Mark Hanslip, need to tread more carefully or else it gets far too chaotic, and so they do with some cryptic little melodic phrases in harmony half way through.

Other highlights are the interweaving of vocal and saxophone lines against an infectious riff and rhythm on Bara Mbaye, and the title track which again features an infectious bass sequence and a lovely interlocking of sax and drum phrases.

In fact the strength of this disc is, ironically, that the two groups don’t try to all play at the same time all that often, choosing to act as contrasting/complimenting textures and moods. What is clear is the vibe that each group takes from the other and uses to enhance their own music. A fruitful collaboration, in other words, without ever being a forced one.