Meadow Argus

The Charlie Moorland Trio

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January, 2004 - Greenman Review

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(I've included the complete review from Greenman below. Not because it is particularly positive or insightful; but for the sheer confusion the unknown author exhibits when trying to make sense of  such (seemingly) a strange record. Enjoy!)

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"On the sunlit uplands that surround our publication's multi-billion dollar premises, the Editorial Board of Green Man Review and their cronies swan about, eating chocolate sent in by artists hoping to bribe their way to good reviews, then flit from Charles de Lint's newest champagne-lubricated booklaunch to cocktails to mark the start of Fairport Convention's latest North American tour, before finally repairing to the luxurious editorial suite and listening to the finest music sent in by the mega-recording companies while plying each other with mead, cider and other delights. Meanwhile, down in the infernal bowels of the GMR complex, the hacks are slaving away to churn out reviews of the bizarre material spurned by the toffs upstairs. Thus it is that I find myself listening to these two oddities. And very odd they are!

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The Charlie Moorland Trio describes its own recording thus: "A collection of swing/French/Gypsy/trad and original material, including some French musette transcribed from disc, jazz from the real book, a Romanian Gypsy tune 'Doda' from a trad score and Macedonian tunes from Linsey Pollak's collection."

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As an accurate description, this is not a bad start, although if the writer wanted to be exhaustive he or she might have mentioned torchsongs, klezmer and bebop too -- and all that in only 12 tracks! It's the opening number that first recalls bebop, for it is nothing other than an extremely odd version of Thelonious Monk's "In Walked Bud." You would not normally expect to hear this piece begin with solo violin, soon joined by clarinet, both of them soaring off into some decidedly avant garde realms while the acoustic guitarist lays down a Django Reinhardt rhythm track and the band then starts swinging more conventionally, with the first of many nods to the Reinhardt/Grapelli/Hot Club of France sound. Well, that's the surprising start to a CD that packs a lot more surprises.

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The three instruments already mentioned are the chosen vehicles of the trio's members: there is Seamus Kirkpatrick on clarinets and vocals, Jan Van Dijk on violin and Jevan Cole on guitar. In addition, the booklet lists the special guests: there is Dominic Hede, who plays drums on some tracks, and also, confusingly, Jan Van Dijk and Jevan Cole on banjo, although how two members of the trio can also be special guests is not the least of the mysteries about this record. Attentive readers will already have spotted another mystery: if this is the Charlie Moorland Trio, where is Mr (it seems not to be Ms) Moorland? Well, he is also listed among the special guests, with "spiritual guidance" attributed to him, and the tombstones drawn in the booklet rather imply that poor Charles is no longer of this world (along with Miles Davis and Stéphane Grappelli, who are most certainly dead). I hoped to find enlightenment on the record company's Web site, but the link didn't work. A little websurfing informed me that this band hails from Brisbane in Australia, but I could find out little else.

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The jazz is mainly in the first part of the CD, with more beboppish sounds in track 2, a Seamus Kirkpatrick composition entitled "Destroy All Nature," a drum-driven piece on which the composer treats us to some comical scat singing in addition to his clarinet-playing. He has rather mixed vocal ambitions, since track 3, "Traditionnel Musette," which is a good description of the music, even if the French is ungrammatical, also includes some la-la-la-ing. This music is alleged to be the theme from "The Gilbert Principal," although a Web search failed to turn up any work of that name, just as Van Dijk's jazzy composition "Pardon My Hat" purports to be the theme from "Pickering's Folly," another work that is equally unknown to search engines. Later on the disc, Kirkpatrick performs -- dead straight - the torchsong "Angel Eyes," which I last heard performed by Frank Sinatra about 40 years ago. Jazz pops up again in a swinging version of McCoy Tyner's "Blues On The Corner" -- here unfortunately attributed to McCoy Turner -- and there is also a Miles Davis tune, "Dig," which brings out more Reinhardt/Grapelli echoes and gradually degenerates into "Sweet Georgia Brown."

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As the CD progresses it gradually seems to move towards a fascination with central European/Gypsy/Balkan style music, which this instrumentation frankly suits better than it does modern jazz. Apart from the Romanian and Macedonian pieces mentioned in the liner notes, there is also what looks like a Hungarian tune.

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The eclectic choice of material suggests that this is one of those small-town bands that has to be able to turn its hand to any style of music in order to satisfy the various publics to which it is obliged to play. OK, I know Brisbane is not really a small town, but you know what I mean. All in all, Excentrique is an extremely strange collection of music by three musicians (plus occasional drummer) who really seem to be having a whale of a time and probably don't care too much who is listening, which may be just as well if, as the persistent inaccessibility of Treeskin's website implies, the record company no longer exists. In any case, this CD is in the category of those that you buy after a gig because you had a great evening, and probably not one that you would search out unless this eclectic and unusual music particularly appeals to your curiosity. Nonetheless, it has to be said that the musicianship is of an extremely high standard, with a display of technique on both violin and clarinet that suggests classical training to my (possibly inexpert) ears." ... ????

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January, 2004 - Barfly Magazine

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     "...The Charlie Moorland Trio excels at this light jazzy material. They've got the chops to deliver real class." ...Steve Baker

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