F-IRE CD 46 | Will Collier (b), Ed Sheldrake (p), Mike LeSirge (as), Bob Dowell (tb), Ben Somers (ts), Joe Auckland (t) and Ben Reynolds (d). Rec. 2010

Hackney-based young double bassist Will Collier has been running his septet for seven years now since discovering the joys of four-part horn writing at the London College of Music via the renowned educator and original Dankworth sideman and composer Eddie Harvey. However, due to a mix of hard times and practicalities, this is only the ensemble’s second recording. It follows on from 2008’s Everybody Loves the Will Collier Septet and as with its impressive predecessor, boasts plenty of infectious melodies. Collier has however further developed his ensemble writing with well-crafted interlocking horn arrangements and punctuations during solo passages that provide a cohesive framework.

While Collier’s main influences, Gil Evans and especially Kenny Wheeler can be detected in the occasionally choral-like voicing for wind, there is also something of 1980’s Brit big band Loose Tubes’ collective playfulness (the African-influenced ‘Entitled’ especially) and with Ed Sheldrake’s melancholic piano vamps, classic folky singer-songwriter music such as Nick Drake comes to mind too. Standout instrumentalists include young trumpet player Joe Auckland and alto saxophonist Mike LeSirge but this is an album on which everyone sounds like they’re on the same wavelength collectively. For this Collier must take a lot of credit. He’s created a very accessible piece of jazz ensemble writing, but one that doesn’t get in the way of these musicians’ natural impulse to improvise.

Selwyn Harris