Artist: Arnie Somogyi's Ambulance

Date of Release: 01/03/2006

Catalogue no: 826

Label: Forged Records

Price: £6.99

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Arnie Somogyi, Paul Booth, Tim Lapthorn

Arnie Somogyi’s latest band - Ambulance - features the exciting and innovative talents of three of the UK’s leading, up-and-coming, young musicians - prodigious saxophonist Paul Booth, evocative pianist Tim Lapthorn and dynamic drummer Dave Smith.

Self-styled “specialists in musical accident and insurgency”, the band first created a stir at its launch in November 2004 at Ronnie Scott’s Club in Soho, later returning to similar acclaim in July 2005 opposite American vocalist Diane Schuur, and catching the eye of The Guardian’s John Fordham.

“UK Bass virtuoso Arnie Somogyi’s contemporary quartet:
engagingly fresh ... full-bodied ... subtle ... creative collective.”

In 2006 the band has also been awarded the first ever jazz development residency at the prestigious Snape Maltings venue and music centre in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The band is rapidly building a whole new repertoire of original material - and heading out on tour around venues across the UK later this year.

The debut Ambulance EP - Worthless Originals - gives just a hint of what’s to come, combining high energy delivery with compellingly inventive and lyrical ideas.

AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT JAZZ CDS


Track listing:

1) Loose Connection (Lapthorn)
2) Thumb Screw/Tom Thumb (Somogyi/Shorter)
3) Roses (Somogyi)
4) Forgotten (Booth)

Reviews

01/07/0006 Jazzwise (Kenny Mathieson)

*** Although this is only billed as a four-track EP, it's playing time clocks in at over 40 minutes, so it provides a very substantial taste of bassist Arnie Somogyi's fine young band of self-proclaimed "specialists in musical accident and insurgency" (saxophonist Rob Townsend has been added to the line-up since this recording). There is nothing accidental about the playing, while the original compositions that make up the album are anything but worthless, and provide rich material for the layers to develop, both in their creative soloing and group interplay. Lapthorn's off-kilter groover "Loose Connection" is a strong opening selection. Somogyi's "Roses" and a composition of his own "Thumb Screw" with Wayne Shorter's "Tom Thumb" demonstrate his ability as a composer as well as virtuoso bassist, and Booth's lithe "Forgotten" closes the set. A very promising beginning, and one that suggests there will be much more to come from this source."