One of the most extraordinary stories in jazz and global music is the discovery of Emahoy, also known as The Honky Tonk Nun. A classically trained Ethiopian pianist who, after taking the veil, lived on a remote mountaintop yet managed to create a unique and compelling blend of classical, blues, and sacred tunes. She first gained wider attention on the remarkable album Éthiopiques, Vol 21: Piano Solo. Her music exists in its own space, with conventional meter and harmony seemingly severed by her self-imposed exile.
At the Barbican on April 29, The Vernon Spring, the project of Sam Beste, opened with Emahoy's composition Mother's Love, played on an upright piano that looked as if it had been redesigned by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The performance was mesmerising, with the melody and syncopation slowed as if reined in and given room to breathe. This sense of restraint, giving each note its own personal space, characterized the entire piano-with-electronics set. The shifting layers of sound, gently teased apart, kept the audience enraptured, making it feel rude even to breathe too loudly.
Beste, a north Londoner who once served as Amy Winehouse's live piano player, finished with Donny Hathaway's For All We Know, a song Amy would have known and loved. The piece was stripped of its soul yet left with bags of emotion. Fans of Max Richter, Nils Frahm, or Hania Rani should check out The Vernon Spring's latest album Under A Familiar Sun, which deploys a more expansive palette than Beste used at the Barbican but is no less involving.
The main act was Mammal Hands, a band from Norwich that emerged around the same time as Manchester's GoGo Penguin, occupying the same sonic sphere of Steve Reich meets Esbjörn Svensson. Both were signed to trumpeter Matthew Halsall's Gondwana label. Early on, GoGo Penguin seemed to have the edge in energy, hooks, and dynamics. But nothing stands still in jazz. Mammal Hands are now signed to the ACT label, home to Esbjörn Svensson and Emma Rawicz. They have a new drummer, Rob Turner, who used to play with GoGo Penguin, joining Nick Smart (piano and electronics) and Jordan Smart (saxes and electronics). Turner brings a compelling propulsive force, with beats drawn from drum'n'bass as much as jazz, and seems to have loosened up a little with Mammal Hands.
The band opened with selections from the new album Circadia but also dipped into their back catalogue of hypnotic vamps and themes, including the soaring Black Sails from 2017's Shadow Work. The sonic landscape felt familiar yet fresh and urgent, the band sounding re-invigorated and able to cut loose more than before. The sometimes austere music of both The Vernon Spring and Mammal Hands suited the Barbican well; at no point did it feel better suited to a jazz club. One suggestion: next time, turn Nick Smart's piano side-on so the audience can see more than the back of his plaid shirt.
Interestingly, comparisons will be possible again when GoGo Penguin, who also have a strong new album Necessary Fictions, play Camden's KOKO as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 16 and 17.
