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Liam Noble

In the Meantime

Basho

In the Meantime features Liam Noble on piano, a multi reed frontline with Stan Sulzmann on tenor and soprano saxes and flute and Chris Biscoe on alto and soprano sax and alto clarinet, Mick Hutton on bass and Paul Clarvis on drums.

 

Jazzwise review by Kevin Le Gendre

Pianist Liam Noble has already impressed through his work with such as Bobby Wellins, Christine Tobin and Paul Clarvis and In the Meantime wholeheartedly confirms that he’s a player to keep an eye on.

Surrounded by a bunch of strong if underrated personalities that include Clarvis as well as Stan Sulzmann and Chris Biscoe, Noble has produced one of the best independent releases that I’ve heard of late.

An elegant player with an incisive if at times understated style, Noble excels as a writer and arranger on this set. The themes and orchestrations – capitalising wholeheartedly on the fine playing of the ensemble of which Sulzmann and Biscoe stand out – are affecting and occasionally rapturous affairs that strike an all too rare balance between strong, strident forward drive and graceful poise.

Harmonic finesse and wily counterpoint are the order of the day but perhaps what impresses the most is the idiomatic range of the material that echoes of anything from Keith Jarrett and early 70’s ECM to Wayne Shorter and very occasionally Thelonious Monk.

Yet what we end up with is nevertheless a very British sounding album – something that would sit very well in the Babel catalogue. And the severely reharmonised version of Lionel Bart’s ‘Who Will Buy?’ is a delight, confirming Noble’s ability to take a left turn all the while keeping on the straight and narrow.

All told In the Meantime is an articulate, accomplished affair from a musician who is surely more than ready to step out of the shadows.”