REVIEW: | ||
Dylan Howe Quartet | ||
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 | Sitting behind a very unpretentious drum kit Dylan Howe started off the first set at the Spin with a quiet insistent groove which stilled the chattering of the expectant audience before the rest of the quartet joined in. Only when Mark Hanslip stated the melody was the piece recognisable as Colman’s Braodway Blues, by which time Howe’s drumming was cracking and whirring like a sonic acrobat, often falling silent for a couple of beats or suddenly accelerating into double time then pausing and falling back to the original medium swing. The result was playing of great originality, the sinuous angular lines from the melody being ripped and sharpened by Howe’s extraordinarily expressive and attentive drumming to which Oly Hayhurst on bass responded with characteristic speed and empathy. Although there were many great moments the promise of this first number was not entirely carried through the rest of the evening. Howe’s own piece Teeni seemed lacking in edge and the arrangement more pedestrian despite some great soloing from John Turville on keyboards. Turville played consistently well all evening mixing a faultless sense of rhythm with a fast lyrical touch in the right hand though though he rarely made use of the full keyboard. In Monk’s off beat Bemsha Swing, with it’s bursts of melody well suited to Howe’s multi-dimensional drumming, Mark Hanslip dug into his solo and produced some sweet bursting lines with considerable technical prowess. He also has a wonderfully warm tone that gave great expression to Mcoy Tyner’s Search for Peace even if his soloing at other times seemed hesitant, perhaps the result of unfamiliarity with the material. Some of the finest moments in the evening came from the interplay between bass and drums where Hayhurst seemed well able to second guess Howe’s seemingly unpredictable alterations to the groove and thus carry the drummer’s kaleidoscopic rhythm across to the front line players. Although Dylan Howe is an exceptional drummer the evening was not as forward looking as one might expect partly no doubt as none of the quartet are members of the band that recorded Howe’s latest album. | |
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