 Gwilym
Simcock
BLUES VIGNETTE
ALBUM
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OF BLUES VIGNETTE
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Disc 1
GWILYM SIMCOCK - Piano
01 Little People6:56 LISTEN
02 Exploration on Mvt. II of Grieg Piano Concerto (Edvard Grieg) (arr. Simcock)8:34 LISTEN
03 On Broadway(Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil) (arr. Simcock)4:13 LISTEN
04 Improvisation I - Statues 3:06
05 Improvisation II Letter to the Editor 3:49
06 Improvisation III - Be Still Now 4:04
07 Caldera 8:38 LISTEN
08 Jaco and Joe 9:21
Suite for Cello and Piano
09 Part 1 - Kinship 14:57
10 Part 2 - Homeward 6:04
CARA BERRIDGE - Cello
GWILYM SIMCOCK - Piano
Disc 2
GWILYM SIMCOCK - Piano
YURI GOLOUBEV - Double Bass
JAMES MADDREN - Drums
01 Introduction 4:46
03 Blues Vignette 8:12 LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
04 Black Coffee (Sonny Burke) (arr. Simcock) 5:23 LISTEN TO THIS TRACK
05 Longing To Be 12:17 LISTEN
06 Nice Work If You Can Get It (G. Gershwin) (arr. Simcock) 6:35
07 Cry Me A River (Arthur Hamilton) (arr. Simcock) 8:05
08 1981 8:29
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| FROM THE U.S.A. |
| Richard B Kamins, Step Tempest |
| One can hear the influences of the classic Bill Evans Trio as well as Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau in Simcock's approach. Yet, I hear a 29-year old adventurer staking out his own territory, creating music that moves beyond influences. Such a pleasurable journey should be shared by many |
Mark Myers, Jazz Wax |
| Pianist Gwilym Simcock is a delight to listen to. He devotes much of Blues Vignette (a two-disc set) to original compositions. No matter what he takes on, Simcock dives in with authority and a jazz-classical technique that rises in intensity and falls off gently like a spring thunderstorm. What's also remarkable is how tender he can be when romping through songs like his Little People or Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil's On Broadway |
David Franklin, Cadence |
| The music on disk two constitutes outstanding piano trio Jazz. Whether on Simcock’s own engaging compositions or on his unique arrangements of the standards “Black Coffee,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and “Cry Me A River,” the group creates captivating, creative music. The pianist swings as well as anyone while enunciating every note with a beautiful tone and crystal clarity. And his improvisations feature cliché-free melodic lines and imaginative harmonies. Yuri Goloubev, a Classical virtuoso as well as a Jazz player, also shows a high level of creativity in his melodic, rhythmically-inventive bass lines and demonstrates one of the most gorgeous bowed bass tones in Jazz. Drummer James Maddren adds an intelligent and tasteful rhythmic layer to the mix. Together, they have mastered the art of playing as a cohesive unit—tempo and stylistic shifts are negotiated with perfect coordination. |
| JazzChicago.net |
| "Simcock is certainly going to open some eyes and ears in North America with this ambitious release, which demonstrates why this still young musician and composer is starting to be mentioned as being among the very best in the world". |
| Read Full Review here |
19/11/2009 John Kelman, Allaboutjazz |
Simcock, Goloubev, and Maddren demonstrate the same empathic, unfettered interaction that can be heard in contemporary trios by pianists John Taylor, Bobo Stenson, Brad Mehldau, and, of course, Jarrett. Simcock's sponge-like ability to assimilate new ideas into a cogent voice makes him an easy partner with every one of these significant pianists. A major statement that spotlights his multifaceted interests with pristine clarity, on Blues Vignette, Gwilym Simcock has arrived.
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24/12/2009 Ian Patterson, Allaboutjazz |
The balance Simcock achieves between compositional structure and improvisation is the thread which runs through the trio numbers and is the unifying strand between the two CDs. Each is an inseparable part of Simcock's emerging musical identity. It will be fascinating to see how this trio develops over time, for its potential is clearly great. Undoubtedly one of the year's most satisfying releases.
Read Full Article |
| Tom, Henry, Toledo Blade |
| Simcock is certainly one to watch, a talented crossover pianist with a fresh musical vision |
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| FROM THE UK AND IRELAND Album Reviews in brief (.pdf) |
22/01/2010 Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times 5 stars***** |
The first of this double CD collection is a wonderful display of Simcock’s gifts as a solo pianist as well as his talents as a composer in jazz and classical idioms.
Working from set themes or creating spontaneous improvs, his playing has a rigorous sense of flow and structure. And Simcock’s classical roots are evident in a beautiful examination of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, second movement, and his own, in part Messaien-like Suite for Cello and Piano. Cara Berridge shines in the cello part.
The second CD, devoted to the trio with Yuri Goloubev (bass) and James Maddren (drums), is even better. The interaction is consistently stunning, while Simcock’s own playing borders on the sublime at times.
Rhythmically flexible, assured whether inside or out, the trio set down a marker that few others are likely to equal. One hopes they get the chance to build on it. |
29/12/2009 James McGowan, Tribune |
Gwilym Simcock’s latest Blues Vignette (Basho) adds to the British pianist’s growing reputation is an ambitious double album deftly covering both solo and trio formats with some vivid originals evoking Jarrett and Bill Evans while skilfully straddling the classical and jazz hemispheres. |
18/12/2009 Tim Stenhouse, UKVibe |
This is an outstanding recording that deserves to see Gwilym Simcock catapulted to international stardom. |
| 15/12/2009 Ian Mann, The Jazz Mann 4 stars**** |
“Blues Vignette” is a superb achievement, impressive in its scope and ambition and flawless in its execution.
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28/11/2009 John Bungey, The Times 4 stars**** |
| Further evidence of the young pianist’s abundant talents is revealed on two CDs that range from interpretations of standards and Grieg through to his own suite for cello and piano plus jazz compositions. Solo and with his trio, he can dazzle, blurring distinctions between jazz and classical. You can hear a debt to Keith Jarrett, particularly on a bravura version of On Broadway, and perhaps Brad Mehldau, too. Nevertheless, a powerful individual voice is emerging. |
25/11/2009 Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph 4 stars**** |
| The biggest star among Britain’s young pianists now needs a 2-CD set to contain his ambitions. It contains tributes to Weather Report, brilliantly virtuoso takes on standards like Black Coffee, and big-scale classical compositions including a piano-and-cello suite. On the solo CD Simcock sometimes slips into a Keith Jarrett-like portentousness, but the Trio CD is a delight. |
20/11/2009 John Fordham, The Guardian 4 stars**** |
Simcock's imagination really does seem to flow freely across classical and jazz without noticing the joins. Simcock, Goloubev and James Maddren celebrate the trio tradition of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett on some vivid originals here - and the young leader sounds as if he's wearing his immense knowledge more lightly, yet using it more incisively, than ever before. |
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13/11/2009 Jack Massarik, Evening Standard**** |
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Britain's rapidly maturing jazz maestro refuses to be categorised. Greig's piano concerto sits comfortably between fluent originals on this ambitious double album, his most impressive work yet.Heard solo, with strings and in a trio with drummer James Maddren and Russian bassist Yuri Goloubev, his playing pulses with life and covers a wide emotional range. Some listeners liken him to fellow Brit John Taylor but his combination of lyricism and surging vitality more strongly suggests Chick Corea and the late Michel Petrucciani.
And in his spare time, this world-class improviser also plays some nimble French horn. |
13/11/2009 Mike Hobart, FT 4 stars **** |
| Prize-winning UK pianist Gwilym Simcock’s double CD seamlessly blends classical roots and jazz references with both depth and stature. |
09/11/2009 Chris Parker, Vortex Website |
"As well as possessing an exquisite touch and an extraordinarily fecund musical imagination, so that robust yet delicate embellishments flow from his fingers in breathtaking profusion, he is also a great listener, allowing the sensitivity and power of both Maddren and Goloubev (whose arco technique in particular is matchless) to shine alongside his own, so thaton both solo/duo and trio discs, Simcock demonstrates just why he has established himself so quickly as a world-class talent. Warmly recommended". |
01/11/2009 Clayton Hirst, WalesHome.org |
"Blues Vignette will cement Gwilym Simcock’s reputation at the vanguard of the contemporary British jazz scene." Read full article |
01/11/2009 Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise 4 Stars**** |
"Gwilym Simcock has moved up to an entirely new level" |
01/09/2009 Helen Mayhew, JazzFM |
| “Just when you thought the piano could go no further in jazz one emerges to raise the bar of invention and virtuosity still higher. On this recording Gwilym Simcock seems to have breached a dam of inhibition and let loose a flood of music that is truly exhilarating” |
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| FROM GERMANY Album Reviews in German (.pdf) |
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| NDR Info, 23.11.2009 Album der Woche: Gwilym Simcock „Blues Vignette“ |
| „Was für ein neuer Ton, genauer: was für eine unbremsbare Vielfalt neuer Töne und scheinbar unerhörter Spielweisen, die da ein gerade 28 Jahre junger Pianist aus dem Flügel zauberte!“ |
| BR Klassik, 20.11.2009 |
| „Verschmelzung von Klangästhetik und Kompositionsstrukturen der klassischen Schule mit dem Improvisationsvermögen des Jazz ... Die Verschmelzung gelingt ihm in faszinierender Weise auf jeder Ebene. Mit großer emotionaler Tiefe und Reife gestaltet er die Melodik, mit einer nahezu orchestralen Annäherung arbeitet er an der großen Palette der harmonischen Schattierungen und mit einer hochenergetischen Anschlagskultur an zwingenden und swingenden Rhythmisierungen.“ |
| Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 2009 |
| „Er ist schon jetzt unvergleichlich, was für einen 29-Jährigen außergewöhnlich ist“. |
Mannheimer Morgen, November 2009, Solo-Piano-Konzert von Gwilym Simcock |
Ein Stern geht auf
„Bei dem Zwei-Stunden-Recital wird rasch klar, dass hier ein neuer Stern am Jazzpiano-Himmel aufscheint. Simcock besitzt alle Anlagen, um eines Tages selbst einen Mann wie Keith Jarrett zu beerben, mit dem er eine enzyklopädische Stilvielfalt teilt.“ |
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...BLUES VIGNETTE