22nd September 2023: Release day for Ivo Neame’s solo piano album – Live at Turner Sims – 180 gram limited edition LP
Out today: Ivo Neame’s solo piano album – recorded live at Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton, England.
180 gram, limited edition of 300 LPs
The solo piano album has a long and noble tradition in jazz – it’s a challenge for any pianist to rise to, so what prompted Ivo Neame to take the time out from his demanding schedule as one of Europe’s busiest and most acclaimed pianist/composers and tackle that challenge? ‘I’ve been trying to do this for a while because it’s such a personal statement.’ I tried to record in a studio, but somehow I didn’t feel the results was good or special enough to release. I started thinking about the process, and what I wanted to capture was the spontaneous freshness of improvising in front of an audience – with that energy, and that pressure!’ Ivo booked the Turner Sims auditorium in Southampton for a single concert. Live at Turner Sims documents that entire performance, just as it happened on that evening, not edited in any way. ‘You are very naked as a solo pianist – I wanted to wait a long time, til I felt that my left hand was strong enough to deliver all the counterpoint I wanted, and realize all my musical ideas in real time – its been a fifteen year process that is still ongoing!’.
Ivo’s intense preparation shows itself paradoxically in the relaxed, focused spontaneity of the six performances, with the ambience of the room brought in as a part of the creative process. ‘On a solo gig you don’t have the rest of the band to interact with – the conversation is between you and the instrument and the room.’
The choice of tunes was as carefully considered as the choice of ambience. The punningly titled ‘OK Chorale’ is an original by Ivo, all in four parts to embrace the rules of the Bach chorale and then subvert them with Ivo’s own unique polyrhythmic approach. ‘Bittersweet’ originates from a Rachmaninov concerto, as reimagined by proto-smooth-jazz polymath Don Sebesky, and segues into an Ivo original called ‘Clowns’ that allows for some subtly ingenious two-handed improvisation. Bill Frisell’s ‘Strange Meeting’ is a favorite of Ivo’s – ‘it’s always so different, even when Bill plays it, but always so recognizable. That’s the measure of a great tune!’ He breaks the tune down into melodic cells that repeat and recombine in endless variety. The tune mutates via a free, spontaneously created link into ‘Rag’ to complete the pair of Frisell compositions. ‘I chose it because its so contrasting, and its super fun to just improvise on the form.’
‘Soul Love’ is indeed the David Bowie tune – ‘I really love the riff!’ – but with a dark reharmonization using triad pairs that sounds utterly uncontrived, respecting the sinuous melodic contour of the original. ‘I Got It Bad’ is a simple, direct ballad, beautifully reimagined. “There’s many solo albums that I love that feature the Songbook – Fred Hersch, Brad Meldhau, Keith Jarrett, John Taylor’s ‘Insight’ – and although all my albums til now have been all own music, in the solo setting I had a chance to explore spontaneously arranging other people’s compositions that I love’. The album finishes with ‘Phrasing Song’ an example of Ivo’s own unique multi-layered compositional style, scaled down from a big band arrangement to a pair of hands.
Live at Turner Sims is an unedited portrait of a musician at work, alive and in the moment, each take flawlessly rendered, with a sureness of touch, a limitless flow of melodic inspiration, and a use of space and silence alongside the wealth of ideas that demonstrates the creative confidence of a master.