Pigfoot: 21st Century Acid Trad

21st Century Acid Trad
    
Artist: Pigfoot
Genre: Jazz
Label: Village Life

Pigfoot are four London musicians more usually associated with the sharp end of contemporary jazz: trumpeter Chris Batchelor, tubist Oren Marhsall, drummer Paul Clarvis, and pianist Liam Noble. As Pigfoot, they are excavating the very bedrock of 20th-century popular music. Tunes such as the Tennesse Waltz, Basin Street Blues, Fat's Waller's Jitterbug Waltz and Duke Ellington's Mood Indigo are subjected to 21st-century scrutiny, allowed to break down and fall apart, then be reconstructed (or is that deconstructed?) as vehicles for contemporary improvisation. Though there is certainly irony at work here, the source material is shown proper respect and its essentially exuberant, anarchic character shines through. Fans of actual "trad jazz" will want to break something, but the rest of us will smile along. chris-batchelor.com

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin

Cormac Larkin, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a musician, writer and director