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Jim Rattigan: When

By Chris May
December 24, 2020
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Composer-arrangers as diverse as

Gil Evans

composer / conductor
1912 - 1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Gil Evans and

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus have employed the French horn, but it remains something of a niche instrument in jazz. Why? The same question applies to the almost complete absence of trombones in West African jazz and Afrobeat, and their ubiquity in Brazilian samba. The first convincing explanation in the Comments box below will win a night out with Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani. The second such explanation will win two nights. Anyway, Britain's

Jim Rattigan

french horn

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Rattigan is among a handful of players who champion the French horn as a solo instrument and he makes a convincing fist of it on When.

Rattigan trained as a classical hornist and spent six years as a member of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra before switching to jazz full-time in the mid 1990s. Since then he has worked in bands led by luminaries including

Django Bates

piano
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Django Bates,

Carla Bley

piano
1938 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Carla Bley,

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner,

Hans Koller

saxophone, alto
b.1921

" data-original-title="" title="">Hans Koller and

Julian Arguelles

saxophone
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Julian Arguelles. Rattigan released his first own-name album, Unfamiliar Guise (Black Box), in 2000, and in 2011 formed

Jim Rattigan’s Pavillon

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Rattigan��s Pavillon, a twelve-piece ensemble with which he has released two albums.

On When, Rattigan fronts an octet made up of two quartets, one jazz, one classical. The album is, he says, not a crossover project but a juxtaposition in which the two traditions work side by side. The jazz lineup is completed by acoustic pianist

Nikki Iles

piano
- 2012

" data-original-title="" title="">Nikki Iles, bassist

Michael Janisch

bass
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Janisch and drummer

James Maddren

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">James Maddren. The classical lineup is a string quartet led by the violinist Julian Tear, alongside whom in his previous life Rattigan frequently played in the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields chamber orchestra.

Lyrical and mellifluous—it surely cannot be simple coincidence that the French horn's sonically identical twin is called a mellophone—When is a collection of ten Rattigan originals. Their ambience ranges between melancholic and bitter sweet, and both toplines and arrangements touch on the nostalgic, at their best suggesting a previously unheard item from the Great American Songbook. It is here that Rattigan's distinction between crossover and juxtaposition becomes rather blurred. But no matter. So strong are many of the melodies that they almost beg for someone to add words and have the shade of

Billie Holiday

vocals
1915 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday sing them. Nikki Iles' keyboard voicings are additional pleasures, often suggesting

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans.

This is not an album that is going to frighten any horses. But if you are in a reflective mood and enjoy elegant jazz with well-scored, let us say, juxtover string charts, this one hits the spot.

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Track Listing

Now And Then; River of Dreams; Patricks Song; Fool; Saudade; It's Not Quite The Same; When; The Commute; Solace; Wistful Thinking.

Personnel

Jim Rattigan

french horn

Nikki Iles

piano

James Maddren

drums

Julian Tear

violin

Alison Gordon

violin

Nicholas Barr

viola

Nicholas Cooper

cello

Album information

Title: When | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Three Worlds

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