REVIEW: 9 February 2006

Phil Peskett

The last time Phil Peskett played at the Spin was with Pete Oxley’s Curious Paradise and following Oxley’s tightly written set of pieces from his lastest CD, so it was a treat to have the opportunity to hear this increasingly respected keyboard player in the solo spot. While many jazz musicians use their solos as an opportunity to mark their own personality and style on the music, there are others who use the solo as a path into the music and an opportunity to reveal new thoughts and understandings. Though these two approaches inevitably overlap Peskett is a player who fits very firmly into the latter. He is an unraveller of the harmonies who, as he embarks on a solo, is almost visibly thinking through the musical potential of each number and laying open to the listener new angles and approaches. This unravelling in the hands of a player with wonderful technique and great imagination produces extraordinarily unexpected and invigorating solos.

Add to this the fact that Peskett was at home with Pete Oxley on guitar and backed by the remarkable Yaron Stavi on bass and Mark Doffman who, on drums, seems to be getting ever more assured, and you have the ingredients of great music that is not insistent on the power of personality. This is not to say that Peskett’s playing does not have personality, far from it, but his inquiring approach makes each solo a unique experience that cannot be judged from one standpoint. He played a delightfully varied set from a Metheny ballad through to Wayne Shorter’s eclectic Beauty and the Beast showing his ability to be both lyrical and driving. One test of a player is to me if they can give the melody itself colour and swing. From ballads through to funk Peskett brought the tunes alive, even the melodically simple Steve Swallow funk number Ladies with Mercedes came across as more than just a sequence of chords.

Throughout, the house band was in good form with some very sympathetic guitar work from Oxley, those ever immaculate bass lines from Stavi and some excellent rhythmic colour from Doffman.

© Paul Medley