1. Alone
2. Jacqueline Du Pré
3. Songs From The Black Earth
4. When The Saints Go Marching In
5. Village Music
6. Holywell Street
7. Pep’s Home
8. Untitled Encore
Nick Vintskevitch - Soprano sax, alto sax
Leonid Vintskevitch - Piano
Steve Kershaw - Double bass
Petter Svard - Drums
A trio called Stekpanna has
already established itself as an unusual force
in jazz. It consists of a Danish guitarist,
an English bassist and a Swedish drummer -
respectively Mads Kjolby, Steve Kershaw and
Petter Svard. While on tour, they encountered
two Russian musicians - father and son Leonid
and Nikolai "Nick" Vintskevitch = and found
that they shared a forward-thinking attitude
towards jazz. As a result they teamed up for
concerts. Four of them also made this CD together,
although guitarist Mads Kjolby was away playing
guitar with the Danish Radio Big Band.
Having heard them playing
together in concert, where they came across
as a very dynamic group, I was rather surprised
by the opening tracks on this CD, which are
somewhat introverted. The first three tracks
are all slow and tend towards sameness, with
repetitive riffs on the piano and a strong
focus on Nick Vintskevitch's mournful soprano
sax. The bass and drums seem to have little
to do. Certainly these tracks convey a sense
of the wide open spaces of Russia (the home
of the "black earth" of the title) but it
was a mistake to programme three such sombre
tracks at the start of the album. The main
saving grace is Leonid Vintskevitch's piano
tone, which is beautifully lucid. His delicate
touch makes every note count.
Things get brighter for When
the Saints Go Marching In, where the old
trad warhorse is brushed down thoroughly to
provide a jovial tongue-in-cheek interpretation
which displays the quartet's ironical humour
as well as its musical expertise. Nikolai's
supple tenor solo is followed by a superbly
adroit piano solo from father Leonid and a
lilting drum solo from Petter, all underpinned
and held together by Steve Kershaw's double
bass.
Village Music again
has lots of ostinato figures from the piano
but it conveys the carefree (sometimes wild)
atmosphere of a village dance. And Leonid's
piano is amazing: playing the piano strings
as well as its keys, and creating his own
dazzling counterpoint between left and right
hands. Holywell Street (presumably
dedicated to an ancient thoroughfare in Oxford,
where the group has often performed) is a
piece which flows lyrically. Bass and drums
both seem to be absent from this and the preceding
track, unless they were just recorded very
low down in the mix.
The bass and drums are well
in evidence on Pep's Home, a catchy
piece with beboppish bluesy overtones. Nikolai
plays tenor sax here, which is usually easier
on the ear than his occasionally piercing
soprano. The closing Untitled Encore
is another meditative piece which benefits
from Nick's tenor sax and Leonid's fluent
piano.
This album proves that the
players are all masters of their instruments,
with praise most deserved for the astonishingly
gifted pianist Leonid Vintskevitch and the
utterly dependable bassist Steve Kershaw.
Let's hope their next album is recorded "live"
- to capture the excitement they generate
when giving concerts.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Slam
Records SLAMCD 277
