Words And Music - Jim Hart Quartet

Personnel

Jim Hart - Vibraphone 

Ivo Neame - Piano

Mick Coady - Bass

Tristan Maillot - Drums

1. It Might As Well Be Spring (Rogers/Hammerstein)

2. Shulie-A-Bop (Vaughn/Treadwell)

3. Just One Of Those Things (Porter)

4. I'll Be Tired Of You (Schwartz/Harburg)

5. Ladies In Mercedes (Swallow)

6. It Took Me By Suprise (Hart)

7. You Go To My Head (Cootes/Gillespie)

8. The Cat In The Hat (Hart)

9. Piano Na Manguiera (Jobim)

Recorded at Red Gables Studio July 2008

Engineer – Dick Hammett

Mastered By – Chris Lewis

Mixed By – Andrew Cleyndert

Photography and Design – Andrew Cleyndert

Reviews

This is the first recording from vibraphonist Jim Hart's Quartet. Subtitled A Tribute to the Art of Song, the album is Hart's attempt to reinterpret some songs by classic songwriters as well as to debut two of his own, and it's a successful attempt.

Despite the title, there are no vocals on any of the nine tracks. Instead, Hart's vibes take on most of the responsibility for the vocal lines, with playing that is extremely melodic and interpretive. His slightly angular take on the vocal line to the opener "It Might As Well Be Spring" shows immediately that he can bring a fresh interpretation to a classic song while remaining sympathetic to the original.

"Just One of Those Things" offers a really interesting take on a classic song. Coming in at just eight-and-a-half minutes, Hart's interpretation opens with a funky introduction, dominated by himself and drummer Tristian Maillot, before all four musicians move into a chorus or two of the melody and go on to a series of looser interpretations in which bassist Mick Coady and pianist Ivo Neame get a chance to stretch out. The original tune is never far below the surface, but each of the players revisits it with lively inventions. Schwartz and Harburg's "I'll Be Tired Of You" is beautifully played; Hart resists the temptation to fill in every beat and his economy is echoed by the other players.

The remaining tracks (including two written by Hart) are less well-known: one, "It Took Me By Surprise." has yet to be recorded as a vocal number; and Antonio Carlos Jobim's beautiful "Piano Na Manguiera."

Hart's other main project, Jim Hart's Gemini, is a freer, less straight-ahead, ensemble whose own debut album Emergence (Loop Records, 2006) is also worth checking out. Hart also works regularly with Sir John Dankworth, Gwilym Simcock, Alan Barnes and others. He is emerging as one of the most versatile players on the jazz scene and this album serves to emphasize that versatility.

Bruce Lyndsay - All About Jazz

Hart is a young UK vibraphonist who likes the standards book, but isn't enslaved by everybody else's use of it. He shares an acclaimed quartet with his gifted piano contemporary Ivo Neame, and the bustling rhythm duo of bassist Mick Coady and drummer Tristan Maillot. The set is a lively programme of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Porter, Jobim and other classics (including Steve Swallow's much-played Ladies in Mercedes). If the modus operandi is the familiar straightahead solos-in-turn approach, and the language is pretty undiluted bebop, the resourcefulness of Hart and Neame gives it all the kind of freshness that the best improvisers are able to do with every new generation. The band has an engagingly MJQ-like cool grooviness on a mid-tempo piece like Sarah Vaughan's Shulie-a-bop, and Just One of Those Things is transformed from its usual languid resignation to a brisk hustle, with the rhythmic shape of its tune rejigged. Ladies in Mercedes has an almost Steve Reich-like compulsiveness about its opening; Hart's two originals are melodically devious bop swingers; and Jobim's Piano Na Manguiera elicits just the right tonal glow from the leader. It's not hard to hear why this group is such a popular draw on the UK live circuit.

John Fordham - The Guardian

A young vibraphone player best known so far for his bravura playing with the New Couriers, Jim Hart reveals another side of his musical personality here. The nine pieces, ranging from bebop to bossa nova, are cast in standard song form and his ingenious treatments show what a wealth of variety can be drawn from this format. He creates a marvellous diversity of tone on an instrument once put down as a tinkling lightweight. Hart's interplay with Ivo Neame, a most impressive young pianist, is quite magical at times. Bassist Mick Coady and drummer Tristan Maillot complete an excellent quartet.

Dave Gelly - The Guardian