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James Kitchman: First Quartet

By Chris May
February 28, 2022
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In the pen portrait of London-based guitarist James Kitchman which is included on the website of his record label, Ubuntu Music, Kitchman singles out the five jazz musicians who have most inspired his playing. Four of them are saxophonists

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane and

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins and guitarists

John Scofield

guitar
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">John Scofield and

Bill Frisell

guitar, electric
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Frisell—titans all, frequently cited as influences by emerging young musicians. Kitchman's fifth hero is less often championed these days. It is guitarist

Jim Hall

guitar
1930 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Hall.

Hall's lyricism and sophisticated grasp of harmony—characteristics he shared with pianist

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans, with whom he recorded two magical albums in the early 1960s—are echoed in Kitchman's playing. But so too are resonances from multiple diverse sources, including a judiciously applied sonic futurism which brings to mind Norwegian guitarist

Eivind Aarset

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Eivind Aarset. So this review spotlights Hall's name not because Hall is Kitchman's most overt influence, but to serve notice of Kitchman's singularity. First Quartet is not—as might be anticipated today from a guitar-led London band—an exercise in dancefloor-friendly groove. Instead, it is an elegant and unfashionably erudite album, carefully arranged but allowing plenty of space for improvisation, which without being in any way "difficult," repays the cerebral attention of the listener.

The quartet assembled by Kitchman is completed by three fellow-travelling musicians. Pianist

Bruno Heinen

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Bruno Heinen, with whom Kitchman has recorded in another setting, is a professor of piano and composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music, has eight albums to his name and has worked with the great saxophonists

Denys Baptiste

saxophone
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Denys Baptiste and

Shabaka Hutchings

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Shabaka Hutchings among other pivotal figures on the London scene. Bassist

Tom McCredie

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Tom McCredie's credits include two albums with guitarist

Rob Luft

guitar
b.1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Rob Luft and another two with pianist

Elliot Galvin

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Elliot Galvin, both rising stars. Drummer

Shaney Forbes

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Shaney Forbes was in 2007 a founder member of in-a-class-of-its-own

Empirical

saxophone, soprano

" data-original-title="" title="">Empirical, with whom he continues to play.

Other influences cited by Kitchman in his aforementioned pen portrait, and audible on First Quartet, include the melancholic romanticism of

Astor Piazzolla

bandoneon
1921 - 1992

" data-original-title="" title="">Astor Piazzolla and the less-is-more melodic touch of Erik Satie. There is also an audio clip of John Lennon talking about "power to the people" (which in an age of halfwit populism raises challenging questions about which people). All these eclectic ingredients come together in an engaging synthesis.

Postscript: In case you missed it, Germany's recently revived MPS label has in early 2022 reissued Jim Hall's minor masterpiece In Berlin: It's Nice To Be With You, recorded in 1969 with bassist

Jimmy Woode

bass
1926 - 2005

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Woode and drummer

Daniel Humair

drums
b.1938

" data-original-title="" title="">Daniel Humair.

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Track Listing

Making The World Disappear; World Uncharted; Once For R.A.; Bees; Why Did He Show Her His Face; I Control The Weather; The Melt; Recluse; Connoisseur Of Clouds; First Day.

Personnel

James Kitchman

guitar, electric

Bruno Heinen

piano

Tom McCredie

bass, acoustic

Shaney Forbes

drums

Album information

Title: First Quartet | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Ubuntu Music

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