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Mark Lockheart: Dreamers

By Chris May
January 14, 2022
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As a founder member of

Loose Tubes

" data-original-title="" title="">Loose Tubes and

" data-original-title="" title="">Polar Bear, saxophonist Mark Lockheart was at the forefront of two waves of reinvigoration of British jazz, one in the 1980s, the other in the 2000s. By age and experience, in 2022 he qualifies as close to an elder statesman of the music. But somehow one still thinks of Lockheart as a Young Turk. Mostly this is because he continues to search for new contexts in which to make his music.

On Dreamers, Lockheart leads a quartet completed by electric keyboardist

Elliot Galvin

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Elliot Galvin, bass guitarist

Tom Herbert

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Tom Herbert and drummer

Dave Smith

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Smith. In the 2000s, Herbert was a member of Polar Bear alongside Lockheart, and Smith moved in concentric circles as a member of the Loop Collective. Galvin is a more recent arrival on the London scene; he is a member of trumpeter

Laura Jurd

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Laura Jurd's outstanding Dinosaur and, among much else, has co-led a stonking duo album with saxophonist

Binker Golding

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Binker Golding, Ex Nihilo (Byrd Out, 2019), recorded live at London's Vortex. (Galvin is your actual Young Turk and a name to look out for).

Lockheart's writing for Dreamers references diverse sources—he names

John Zorn

saxophone, alto
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">John Zorn, Burt Bacharach,

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington and Kraftwerk among them—with Galvin's psych going on sci-fi inclined keyboards helping to bring a sense of unity. The sound is somewhere between the trippy filmic soundscapes created by Lockheart's label mates

Slowly Rolling Camera

band / ensemble / orchestra
b.2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Slowly Rolling Camera, with whom he has recorded, and those heard on Italian saxophonist

Alessandro Meroli

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Alessandro Meroli's Notturni (Space Echo, 2021). Some of the tracks are loose and relaxed, others more urgent; some have a solid backbeat, others are more rhythmically complex; tempos are similarly varied.

There are twelve tracks, lasting on average between three and five minutes. There is fun to be had spotting the acid-era flashbacks among the titles: the Beatles receiving a shoutout with "Marmalade Skies" and

Charles Lloyd

saxophone
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Lloyd, perhaps, getting another with "Dream Weaver." Other titles are more present day: "King Of The World" might be a reference to Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, whose childhood ambition was to be that king; "Gangster Rat," which follows, could well be the morally bankrupt Johnson again. Who knows. Anyway, most of the fun comes from the music itself (although, at the time of writing, there is also pleasure to be had watching Johnson crash and burn).

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Track Listing

Dreamers; Weird Weather; Jagdish; King Of The World (Jagdish Reprise); Gangster Rat; Nature V Nurture; Flourescences; Marmalade Skies; Mirage; Sixteen; Dream Weaver; Mingle Tingle.

Personnel

Mark Lockheart

saxophone

Elliot Galvin

piano

Tom Herbert

bass

Dave Smith

trombone

Additional Instrumentation

Mark Lockheart: tenor and soprano saxophones; Tom Herbert: bass guitar.

Album information

Title: Dreamers | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Edition Records

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Mark Lockheart Concerts

Oct 21 Tue

Huw Warren / Mark Lockheart Quartet Cowbois And Shepherds

East Side Jazz Club
London, UK

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