Ruby Tony Coe Quartet Tony Coe - Clarinet, Soprano & Tenor Saxophones Brian Dee - Piano, Matt Miles - Bass,  Steve Argüelles - Drums
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Tony Coe is one of the most remarkable musicians in the world - Humphrey Lyttelton.
The great Tony Coe, playing a range of saxophones and clarinet, teams up with Brian Dee, Matt Miles and Steve Argüelles. On this new album entitled Ruby, in honour of Tony's new granddaughter, we are given an album of predominantly jazz standards. Some delightful, subtle alterations to the harmonies combined with some charming, thought provoking, most effective introductions leave us dazzled, yet again, by Tony Coe's extraordinary and brilliant playing. Tony Coe is the winner of the Danish Jazzpar Prize 1995 and a BT British Jazz Award 1997

DDD Total Time = 67: 44 - Recorded at Doz Recording Studio, 1997

Tony Coe already had fans at the international level when, in 1965, Count Basie asked him to join his band, an invitation never taken up. Then a 'mere' saxophone player (but already of the highest order), Tony began to realise after a while that his talents actually go deeper than the Count probably perceived. Coe's ability both, in undirected collective improvisation, and as the writer of premeditated arrangements, along with his lengthy studies of European composers (especially of the 20th century), has since made a strong and fruitful impact on the original reedman.

It's appropriate here to recall this history since, on the present album. Tony is in a sense revisiting his early triumphs with the benefit of his subsequent musical experiences. This is not to say that he has recorded most of these pieces previously, but the mere fact of Coe making an album largely of standards from the Great American Songbooks is like a step back in time. He comments that, for an improviser such as himself, "Standards are our life's blood, and it would be refreshing to see more on current jazz recordings instead of whole strings of original compositions"

His group's approach to this shared repertoire is so natural and understated that it's easy to overlook details which reflect the decision-making of the leader. "I made discreet alterations to the harmonies of the standards in order to make them more user-friendly and also to hopefully 'enhance' them, at least from my own point of view. However, I've done this with due respect for the written harmony without, I hope, any loss of charm as we've had, unfortunately, in recent oversimplifications" This is doubtless an oblique reference to the followers of John Coltrane, who emulate his 'modalisation' of standards.

A specific and subtle example of Tony's methods might be that 'family favourite' Rodgers With A Song In My Heart, which has a delicious new chord-change in the 12th bar. Relevant too is My shining hour (actually recorded by Coltrane, using Arlen's rather static harmonies). Where Tony's modifications are perhaps unremarkable individually but make for a far stronger sequence. Other touches such as introductions and endings are notably effective, as in the case of the title-track. This film theme (seldom employed by jazz people except for Ray Charles) has a brief saxophone code, obliquely related to the opening piano figure but consisting of the notes D - E - D - C: allowing for the first D representing the 'Re' of selfeggio, this phrase derives from the initials of Ruby Elizabeth Delaney - Coe, Tony's first granddaughter.

As in all jazz performances, however, these details would not become meaningful without the spontaneity and commitment of suitable colleagues. The odyssey of any significant soloist such as Coe seems to involve balancing familiarity (or material or sidemen) with fresh pastures, and his first experience of including Brian Dee and Matt Miles in his quartet was when Birmingham promoter Jim Simpson engaged them to play together for the BT British Jazz Awards in 1997. Tony has strong views on percussionists, and it's probably no coincidence that Steve Argüelles, with whom he's worked often in the last few years, plays throughout (even in his brief solo spots) with brushes rather than sticks.

The whole album is marked by particularly flexible group playing. One illustration is the three-way dialogue after the drum solo in Love Walked In, which begins with considerable freedom but gradually tapers into the theme again. Another sign of the feedback between the group members is the way so many of the individual solos gradually blossom either from a specific motif, or from the general energy exchange, for instance after Tony's theme-statement on Backward Tracings (Which is based on the old standard "Yesterdays", just as Some Other Autumn-which Coe first recorded in 1971 - recycles the chords of Autumn Leaves).

The use of clarinet on the last-mentioned track draws attraction to the remarkable duet in More Than You Know. From the opening verse to the clarinet statement played entirely in the chalumeau register (Tony only 'crosses the bridge' during the 'bridge' of the last chorus). Communication and feedback are just as strong when only two instruments are involved. This delightful mixture of control and abandon demonstrates forcibly what Tony Coe is all about.

© 1998 Brian Priestley

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