Artist: Geoff Simkins

Date of Release: 01/06/2008

Catalogue no: SR20080101

Label: Symbol Records

Price: £12

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Track Listing

Featuring:

Geoff Simkins - Alto Saxophone
Simon Woolf - Double Bass
Dave Cliff - Guitar

Reviews

01/06/2008 Chris Parker

In his wryly amusing liner notes to this album, alto player Geoff Simkins claims (justifiably, on the evidence provided by the resultant recording) to feel most at ease in small groups, regarding a sextet as 'a dangerously large crowd'. His modus operandi here was to 'select a dozen or so tunes that would be interesting and challenging' and hope that the music would come out sounding as 'spontaneous as possible'. Regular partners Dave Cliff (guitar) and Simon Woolf (bass) join him, and Conversation turns out to be aptly named, its eleven tracks characterised by an infectious ease and informality, yet exhibiting all the signs of having been carefully selected and respectfully addressed by three masters of their craft.

Said material comes largely from the bop (Charlie Parker's 'Passport') and Tristano-influenced jazz tradition (Ted Brown's 'Smog Eyes' and 'Featherbed', a Lee Konitz 'blues', 'Cork 'n' Bib'), supplemented by the odd original, standard ('I'm Getting Sentimental Over You') or jazz classic (John Lewis's 'Django'), and is played with the almost insouciant ease – the art that conceals art – that marked out a lot of West Coast jazz in its heyday. Although undeniably easy to listen to, Conversation richly rewards close application, courtesy of its airy grace, elegance and suppleness, and is warmly recommended.