Artist: Luke Annesley Quartet

Date of Release:

Catalogue no: ref6

Label: FMR

Price: £12

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Dave Cliff

"Beginning, by the Luke Annesley Quartet (FMRCD93), nods towards the light, airy, swinging music produced on America's West Coast in the 1950s. This debt is made overt by the inclusion of material by two figures forever associated with the area, Art Pepper and Oliver Nelson, but the recording's originals, too, are imbued with the breezy, lightly borne virtuosity that characterised West Coast jazz. Guitarist Dave Cliff turns in his customary neat, tidy yet surprisingly energetic and propulsive performance; bassist Simon Thorpe and drummer Matt Skelton provide perfectly controlled power throughout; Annesley himself is eloquent, agile and elegant, capable of considerable force where necessary, but always tasteful and poised, and possessed of a highly attractive alto tone that, while indebted to the likes of Pepper, Sonny Criss and Paul Desmond, is none the less his own". Chris Parker, August 2002

Beginning features Luke Annesley on alto sax, Dave Cliff on guitar, Simon Thorpe on bass and Matt Skelton on drums.

Reviews

10/03/2003 Peter Vacher

".[Luke Annesley] is a confident improviser who has the chutzpah to place five of his originals alongside four pieces by more established composers, namely, Oliver Nelson, Art Pepper, and Cole Porter. He also has the good taste to pull in Dave Cliff as a collaborator... The quartet open with Nelson's 'Six and Four'.with Annesley's plaintive sound and clever facility suggesting an amalgam of Desmond and Pepper. Pepper's 'Straight Life' is fiercer, Annesley showing his mettle, as he marshals a series of clustered phrases over Cliff's Wes-like chords and Skelton/Thorpe's finger popping momentum. This is quartet jazz of real merit, the accent on shape and form, Annesley as adept with pen as with alto, Cliff the ideal helpmate." Jazzwise Issue 63

29/01/2003 Andrew Vine

“We’re blessed with some excellent young players in Britain, and on the evidence of this splendid new session, altoman Luke Annesley is up there with the best of them…
Annesley plays wonderfully well throughout, with admirable relaxation and poise. His solos on the originals, Waiting and Dishevelled, are lovely, and he springs a genuine surprise by adapting the old folk song, Daisy, Daisy, into convincing jazz.
He also establishes his credentials as an interpreter of standards by handling a pair of Cole Porter songs, I Love You and You Do Something to Me, with aplomb. The session gets a considerable boost from the presence of guitarist Dave Cliff, whose quiet excellence fits the mood of the music perfectly…Recommended. ****” - Yorkshire Post