| Jazz |
A British Pianist Crosses the Channel, and Genre Boundaries, With a Rich, Restless Jazz Mosaic.
Consider this subheading your orientation to the character at the heart of this album: an Englishman who crossed the Channel and, perhaps finding inspiration in the journey offers a compelling demonstration of his musical identity. In doing so, he presents not merely a collection of pieces, but a cohesive argument for the breadth and depth of his art. The project is rooted in classical and acoustic forms, yet resists neat classification. This is jazz, yes, but jazz as a patchwork, a hand-stitched tapestry woven from the many passions and references that animate this artist’s inner world.
Across nine distinct yet interwoven tracks, the pianist and his ensemble chart a soundscape of striking variety. At times, the music bursts into explosive bebop passages; elsewhere, it leans into sunlit tropical moods. This duality, this refusal to stay within prescribed borders, is what gives the album its singular vitality. Dave Bristow, composer, pianist, and, in many ways, curator, invites us to witness the evolution of both his voice and that of his ensemble, captured during two recording sessions spaced fourteen months apart. The backdrop to these sessions is a fractured world: one shaped by socioeconomic volatility and the lingering dissonance of post-pandemic politics.
The music itself reflects this confusion, at times winding, chaotic, even deliberately unresolved. But within the improvisational turbulence lies a counterbalancing impulse: structure, clarity, and accessible melodic lines that offer reassurance and even beauty. This is jazz that does not pander, but neither does it alienate. It challenges, provokes, and consoles in equal measure.
And this, then, is the key to unlocking the album’s many-layered architecture: a tortured expression for a tortured time, unfolding in nine tableaux. One standout moment comes courtesy of guitarist Mike Stern on the track Buddha. Stern’s sound, a knowing nod to past decades, acts as a kind of time capsule for listeners familiar with his body of work. It’s a moment that bridges eras, connecting the old and the new through tone and phrasing.
As for Bristow himself, there are echoes in his playing and compositional style that call to mind fellow Brit Gwilym Simcock—a comparison not without merit. Both are alumni of the University of Manchester, and both exude a quiet confidence in their writing. Where Bristow diverges, perhaps, is in his more open-ended approach to arrangement, privileging substance over surface. It’s an artistic choice that yields atmosphere over ornamentation, and mood over mere display.
This is not, however, an easy listen. It is an album aimed squarely at a discerning audience. Its references are not confined to recent trends, but draw deeply from the well of jazz history, requiring the listener to engage, recall, and reflect.
There is, it must be said, one misstep: track six, Rêverie d’automne, with its pseudo-poetic spoken word and gauzy, affected vocal performance, reminiscent of a style currently in vogue among certain French artists striving for intellectual weight. The result is unfortunately less evocative than it is awkward.
Thankfully, the album quickly regains its footing, returning to the kind of jazz that rewards deep listening. At the heart of the quintet lies a vibrant core: trumpet and saxophone trading narrative duties, twin storytellers in a dialogue that often strays toward the edge of harmonic disruption, in the best way possible.
In the end, this is not just an album, but a promise. Or rather, the early signal of a collective—still in its formative stages, on the cusp of something greater. If the quintet maintains its current form and chemistry, one suspects the future holds no shortage of surprises, and very pleasant ones at that.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, August 6th 2025
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Musicians:
Dave Bristow | Piano, Compositions
Christian Altehülshorst | Trumpet
Félix Hardouin | Alto Saxophone
Gabriel Pierre | Double Bass
Guillaume Prévost | Drums
Featuring:
Mike Stern | Electric Guitar (Tracks 2 & 3)
Gabriel Pierre | Double Bass (Track 6)
Caloé | Vocals (Track 6)
Katrin-Merili Poom | Vocals (Track 9)
Gustave Reichert | Electric Guitar (Track 9)
Tommy Scott | Fender Rhodes (Track 9)
Tracklist:
Stars Of Orion
Lightspeed (feat. Mike Stern)
The Buddha (feat. Mike Stern)
Magenta
We Three
Rêverie d’Automne (feat. Caloé & Gabriel Pierre)
Rauschenberg
The Man From Lahore
The End (feat. Katrin-Merili Poom, Gustave Reichert & Tommy Scott)