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Tom Bancroft's In Common: Love & Stillness

By Roger Farbey
February 25, 2019
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Tom Bancroft's In Common: Love & Stillness

A qualified medical doctor and highly experienced jazz musician,

Tom Bancroft

drums
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Tom Bancroft is co-leader of the bass-less Trio AAB and leads the big band Orchestro Interrupto. He studied drums with

Joe Morello

drums
1928 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Morello,

Joey Baron

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Joey Baron, and

Andrew Cyrille

drums
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Cyrille, and has played with a host of renowned jazz stars including

Sun Ra

piano
1914 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Sun Ra,

Charlie Mariano

saxophone, alto
1923 - 2009

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Mariano,

Oliver Lake

saxophone
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Oliver Lake, and

" data-original-title="" title="">Sheila Jordan. In addition to his percussive prowess, Bancroft studied music in Africa and India, so he is uniquely equipped to compose the type of hybrid tunes found on Love & Stillness. He has created something extraordinary here. An off-the-wall record to be sure, it is less Indo-Jazz fusion than the late '60s/early '70s London band Quintessence, which espoused the rather niche genre "raga rock."

"Goodbye Hello" is more prog/jazz, benefitting from guitarist Graeme Stephen regularly taking center stage. "Somehow Something" injects esotericism into the mix with a tanpura sample, an instrument similar to a sitar but which only plays a drone (live tanpura players are apparently something of a rarity, even in India). There is even more to discover on this record, such as the guitar/violin duet "Duo/Donald" or "Willie, And His Dog" happily channelling

John McLaughlin

guitar
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">John McLaughlin's timeless masterpiece My Goal's Beyond (Douglas, 1971). The semi-chanting vocals on "The Burnin O Auchindoon" are almost post-punkesque but mollified by tabla and violin, the pulse progressing into a hypnotic beat before a solo voice transforms it into folk-meets-raga. Another duet on the self-explanatory "Bodhran & Tabla" leads into the title track. Here, Delhi-based Sharat Chandra Srivastava adds serpentine violin lines accompanied by tabla, placing the piece simultaneously in the Indian sub-continent and the European folk idiom.

The two-part "Flower Child" is a surprisingly successful marriage of folk and jazz. Chandra Srivastava's violin dominates "Part 1," followed by heavier electric guitar contributions from Stephen accompanied by more breathtaking violin on "Part 2." "Nette Ball" could take the prize for a model of idiosyncrasy, starting out in pure vocal bebop mode but then incorporating tabla, drum, and guitar interjections amongst the scat. Plentiful raga-like extemporization marks "18," with guitar and violin gradually melding together before fading out. "Flower Child 2b" is a short, limpid ending to a truly intriguing seventy minutes of mellifluous music.

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Track Listing

Somehow Something; Goodbye Hello; Duo / Donald, Willie, And His Dog; Solo; The Burnin O Auchindoon; Bodhran & Tabla; Love & Stillness; Drums & Tabla; Flower Child 1; Flower Child 2; Nette Ball; 18; Flower Child 2b.

Personnel

Tom Bancroft

drums

Tom Bancroft: drums, bodhran; Sharat Chandra Srivataa: violin; Graeme Stephen: guitar; Gyan Singh: tabla; Sophie Bancroft; Gina Rae; Inge Thomson: voice plus Michael Owers (7): brass; Tom Lyne (10): bass.

Album information

Title: Love & Stillness | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Interrupto Music

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