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Company In Marseille
is the best of a recent trio of CDs documenting the Company Weeks . .
. and features a little-league superstar line-up joined by the
veteran American hoofer Will Gaines. Some fascinating interplay
between guitar, bass, cello, harp and Gaines’s amazing,
Duracell-powered feet." Stewart Lee SUNDAY TIMES
"Company
In Marseille confirms the continuing
validity of Bailey's hospitable concept. IST fuse nervy improv
improvising energy with chamber music intricacy on the opening trio
track. Various combinations follow, including a substantial quintet
piece from each night. Gaines duets with both Bailey and Fell,
demonstrating his readiness to fracture pattern and shuffle time. An
Incus video already documents a Bailey-Gaines performance; without
the visual dimension, it's possible to concentrate exclusively on the
musicality of Gaines's impromptu choreography. Fell, Wastell and
Davies obviously know one another's playing very well. Their
encounter with the older men is tight and attentive, offering small
confidences rather than sweeping statements. Bailey himself is
instantly recognisable without resorting to quoting himself,
adaptable as ever to very different occasions." Julian Cowley
THE WIRE
"Despite the ascetic
instrumentation and often chilly soundscape, these sessions are among
the most accessible and seductive of all Company recordings."
Barry Witherden JAZZ REVIEW
"This is an excellent,
accessible, enjoyable album." John Eyles ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"The tracks by the established
groupings - a sharply splintering IST
cut, and Bailey/Gaines's Old Geezer Good-Time Improv Revue duo - are
amongst the strongest. Also fine are a highly simpatico Bailey/Fell
duo, and the two quintet pieces which, when Gaines isn't dancing too
hard, sustain morphing hubbubs of gently clashing harmonics."
Nick Cain OPPROBRIUM |
