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Tom Bancroft Orchestro Interrupto
The Ballad of Linda & Crawford
Interrupto IM001
Drummer/composer
Tom Bancroft's compositions have been likened to a 'vast magic box where
hidden doorways, trap doors and optical illusions are all waiting to disorientate'
the listener, and there is certainly a playful, boisterous irreverence to
his music, captured faithfully on this recording.
In its live manifestation, most of it formed a commission involving US pianist Geri Allen, but she is absent here, replaced by the excellent Chick Lyall; otherwise Bancroft's band comprises trumpeters Colin Steele, Eddie Severn and Claude Deppa, saxophonists Phil Bancroft, Laura MacDonald and John Telfer, trombonists Joost Buis, Patrick Charbonnier and Lorna McDonald, guitarist Kevin MacKenzie and bassist Mischa Kool, worth listing in their entirety because they're all so patently committed and involved, their ensemble work pleasingly rumbustious, their solo skills exemplary.
Although capable of delivering quite an emotional punch where necessary, Bancroft's band is never po-faced, indulging in brawling climaxes, wittily traded phrases and sonorous chorales as required by his intelligently varied scores, but demonstrating an infectious, often downright joyous enthusiasm whatever they're playing.
Running the stylistic gamut from Count Basie to Ornette Coleman, and from Britney Spears to Scottish traditional music, Bancroft's music is nothing if not wide-ranging, but the whole coheres satisfyingly, courtesy of the skill and exuberance evident throughout this unequivocally enjoyable album.
