Art Themen, left, and Greg Foat
ONE of the more unusual jazz collaborations came out earlier this year, a record featuring Greg Foat and Art Themen.
On the face of it these are chalk and cheese. Foat is a jazz musician and composer who can embrace funk, folk, lounge, cinematic soundscapes and was once the resident bandleader at the Playboy Club.
The elder statesman Themen was already a stalwart of the jazz scene by the time I came to London. At that time, the saxophonist was in his fierce Coltrane-esque sheets-of-sound stage, although I quickly learned he was remarkably versatile (not least because he combined gigging with being a consultant in orthopaedic medicine) and I went on to witness him as the lynchpin of Stan Tracey and Georgie Fame’s bands.
The album, Off-Piste, has been billed as chill-out music or cosmic jazz, and superficially it is, but it is the kind of deceptively soothing, immersive record that suddenly pulls you up short with an inventive keyboard exploration (Foat, wielding an impressive array of keyboards and effects pedals) or a Middle-Eastern-ish drone-like sax reminiscent of Charlie Mariano (Themen on Yrsno, written by ECM artist Mats Eden) and the other players are certainly no slouches.
Foat told me: “I first met Art in the recording studio session for my album The Mage in 2017.”
This album was in itself a cross-generational project, featuring young guns like drummer Moses Boyd alongside vets such as guitarist Ray Russell and Art.
“I’d booked Gabriel Garrick on trumpet for the recording, and he asked me if I’d like him to bring Art to the session and I said yes please! It was an amazing experience working with him and I have included him in as many projects as possible. Art has such a beautiful sound and approach to playing music and I have learnt so much from him.”
Themen, now in his 80s but still blowing up a storm, is in Camden this coming Sunday (Dec 17) for the second of two gigs with drummer Derek Coleman’s Boptet alongside organist Pete Whitaker (a big fan of Jimmy Smith and Richard “Groove” Holmes – so you know what to expect).
The repertoire won’t resemble the tracks on Off-Piste – we are back in the jazz of Art’s formative years, with music from early Blue Note, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker (and maybe some of Art’s early influences – Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon).
The gig is at Map Studio Café, 46 Grafton Road, Kentish Town, NW5 3SDU, 2-5pm, tickets £10 on the door. See: http://mapstudiocafe.com/events/derek-coleman-boptet/. If you can’t make it, buy the excellent Mage (which is somewhat “freer” in its approach) or the calmer, charming Off-Piste.
