Roller Trio – Roller Trio
(F-IRECD 52 CD. Review by Chris Parker)

“Epic rock-edge riffs, angular sax explorations, brooding beats and haunting dub-step style electronics” and “searing sax over buzzsaw guitar riffs built on looped melody and angular drumbeats” are two recent descriptions (from Jazzwise and Livenotes YLMP respectively) of the approach adopted by Roller Trio, the latest product of the thriving Leeds music scene.

The three bandmembers (saxophonist James Mainwaring, guitarist Luke Wynter, drummer Luke Reddin-Williams) began playing together as a jamming band inspired by everyone from Tim Berne and Anthony Braxton to Queens of the Stone Age, and a spontaneous informality and a willingness to settle into and explore all the rhythmic and harmonic possibilities of hospitable grooves and more tricksy time-signatures consequently characterises their music, but it is the sheer variety, power and energy of the nine tracks on this compelling album that immediately impress.

Once a musical platform is set up, Roller Trio simply “develop the bits [we] like” (in their words), and they do this to great effect whether they’re playing big-beat stormers (“The Nail That Stands Up”) or mellower, slow-building fare (“The Zone” or “A Dark Place to Think”). Admirers of Troyka, Trio VD and their like will love Roller Trio – this rollicking, full-on album demonstrates in spades just why one promoter reacted to a gig by the band thus: “I have never seen a jazz act appeal so vehemently to a non-jazz audience.”