Beginning with rock drums and a shout of “one, two, three, four” this is the most dynamic and conspicuously rock track on the album. Dedicated to an amateur guitarist friend who likes to “wig out” at the weekend this has all the energy and manic sense of humour that one associates with Cowley’s live performances. and suggests a whole new area for the trio to explore.Īfter the shock of the new “Gerald” marks a return to the virtues of the trio’s first two albums. This is closer to, say Bobo Stenson than E.S.T. Unlike much of the trio’s music this piece is not song based and represents the freest playing they’ve ever committed to record. Certainly the probing nature of the music suggests it, Jenkins opening at the drums with Cowley and Sadler subsequently joining in to create something “in the moment”. With all three members of the trio named as composers I’d guess that this was born out a group improvisation.
“A French Lesson” is the only composition not credited solely to Cowley. The music has a visual quality to it, a sense of gliding serenely over ice then of losing control on the slippery surface conveys itself via the music.
#Radio silence review full
“Vice Skating” too has it’s lyrical moments but there are also more vigorous passages full of Cowley’s trademark chord progressions. In all this is one of the most lyrical tracks that the trio has recorded and it is perhaps significant that Cowley has chosen it as the title track, a clear statement that he wishes the trio to develop and move on.
The mood is broken by a more assertive central section before the contemplative mood returns. “Radio Silence” itself begins with static before unfolding into one of Cowley’s most beautiful melodies, simple but full of nuance. At first it might sound like an attempt to mirror “His Nibs”, the attention grabbing opener on the previous album but there are more reflective moments too as Cowley expertly builds and releases the tension. Jenkins also has a background in other types of music having at one time drummed for guitarist Matt Schofield’s outstanding blues outfit. “Radio Silence” begins with the doomy chords of “Monoface” before erupting into joyous life via Cowley’s leaping piano and Jenkins’ clattering drums. He has also worked with the hugely successful singer Adele (alongside Polar Bear drummer Seb Rochford) and played the keyboard parts on the soundtrack of the recent Ian Dury biopic “Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll”. This sharpened Cowley’s pop sensibilities and he was to use these qualities to good effect in his compositional output for the trio. However for fans who enjoyed the first two releases there are still some familiar reference points and the trio is still buzzing with energy.Ī classically trained child prodigy Cowley was performing Shostakovich in public at age ten before musically “dropping out” and opting for a life in pop and soul bands among them The Pasadenas, Brand New Heavies and Zero 7. The fourteen and a half minute “Portal” which closes the album is testament to Cowley’s increasing ambitions for the trio. It’s a more mature record than it’s predecessors and sees Cowley broadening the scope of his writing.
“Radio Silence” finds pianist Cowley again joined by bassist Richard Sadler and New Zealand born drummer Evan Jenkins. The track “His Nibs” was used in a Guinness commercial and is now referred to by Cowley as the band’s “big hit”. Essentially it was more of the same but the trio’s sheer ebullience largely spared them from any kind of critical backlash. I recall a particularly barnstorming set at the 2007 Cheltenham Jazz Festival when the group were really “going for it”.Ģ008’s follow up “Loud, Louder,Stop” appeared on the Candid offshoot Cake and consolidated the trio’s success. An important factor in the trio’s success was the dynamic quality of their stage shows, Cowley being a particularly charismatic performer and a witty and acerbic announcer of tunes. Cowley’s blend of unabashed energy and catchy hooks and grooves appealed to a broader public than the usual jazz audience and the trio achieved a degree of crossover success reminiscent of one of their influences E.S.T. The record was a considerable critical and, in jazz terms, commercial success.
The trio first burst onto the scene in 2006 with “Displaced” which appeared on Cowley’s own Hideinside label. On 19th April 2010 the Neil Cowley Trio will release their third album “Radio Silence” on the Naim Jazz label.