This one's a recent purchase from Oxfam (I actually saw it a couple of weeks ago, but had to check that I didn't already have it). It's another from former Yes and King Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford's jazz outfit, Earthworks.
The band is a four-piece, with Patrick Clahar (saxes), Steve Hamilton (keyboards) and Mark Hodgson (bass) joining Bruford to make jazz which is both complex and free enough to be interesting while still delivering tunes you can latch on to. And while it's an enjoyable listen, there's not much that's groundbreaking or that sticks in the memory. That's fine, being an enjoyable listen really is good enough!
No Truce With The Furies is a lively opener, with sax and piano alternating the melody, followed by A Part And Yet Apart, a group composition, more laidback, with a nice soprano sax theme. Footloose And Fancy Free has a Latin beat, to set the toes tapping, and there's a slower piano intro to a languid sax melody in Sarah's Still Life, to mark the halfway point. And from the second half, probably The Emperor's New Clothes is the most engaging and lively piece, while Eyes On The Horizon feels the most 'smooth', before the finale, a slow smooch in Dewey-Eyed, Then Dancing.
It's a fine example of listenable British jazz from the end of the 20th century, and showcases Bruford's talents as a composer, never showing the inclination to overdrum.
3* - a nice, easy jazz listen, without pretensions to be anything more.
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