The Jazz Defenders – Memory In Motion
(Haggis Records HRLP008 – album review by Mark McKergow)

Bursting with energy, catchy arrangements, fine soloing and superb horn section work, this latest collection from The Jazz Defenders has a great deal to enjoy.

The Defenders announce that they are ‘defending’ the spirit of hard bop jazz along the lines of Horace Silver, Lee Morgan and Art Blakey. That’s a great endeavour – and to be doing it by playing entirely original material is something else altogether. Assembled by keyboardist George Cooper and hailing from the south west of England, the group features first-call talent in the horn section in the shape of Jake McMurchie (Get The Blessing) on tenor saxophone and Nick Malcolm (Jade Quartet, Kevin Figes) on trumpet.

The rhythm section is no less stellar, with drummer Ian Matthews taking time out from Kasabian, joined by Bristol stalwart Will Harris on double bass. Cooper is himself widely travelled with a CV ranging from Hans Zimmer through Nigel Kennedy and U2 to the Brand New Heavies, so the ensemble is already dripping with possibilities.

Do they deliver? Yes, sir – in spades. The nine tracks are mainly provided by George Cooper, occasionally in collaboration with other band members. The opening Meanderthal has a twinge of Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder about it, jumpy and funky, with plenty of scope for Ian Matthews drums to walk the line between forward push and swinging decoration. Fittingly, the trumpet is first out of the blocks for solos with Nick Malcom packing some punch, with Cooper following on organ (accompanying himself on piano – which seems to fit very nicely). The solos are quite short and there’s a lot of potential for extending the music in a live setting.

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The Long Haul, far from it at just under five minutes, see straight eights, pulsing piano and rimshots ticking along. Will Harris takes an effective solo over the piano before Cooper channels Bruce Hornsby for a flowing piano spot. McMurchie demonstrates his great tone with some subtle squeezes and squirls. Chasing Fantasies has a nice extended head with Latin and swing sections, and like all these track packs in a lot of interest.

Rolling On A High sees the band joined by vocalist Doc Brown with some rap-style verses, great fun and smart rhyming to the fore. Brown is putting out how inspired he is by the band, leading to the song title. The horn section work here, as elsewhere on the album, is really first-rate; it sounds like much more than just two instruments together behind the developing story. The fact that the album is on Haggis Records, home of the legendary Haggis Horns, is testament to the top-class tone of the enterprise.

Fuffle Kershuffle, contributed by Will Harris, is a loping shuffle with McMurchie entering through a long saxophone glissando – you don’t hear that every day. Ian Matthews is again right in the mix on drums. Snakebite Playfight is perhaps my favourite track, switching easily between funk and swing with some tightly wound horn melody passages. Cooper mixes it up again with Rhodes piano and organ before a punchy thrash ending. The closing Enigma, by contrast, is a piano/bass duet recorded live at the Duc Des Lombards club in Paris; reflective and rich, it gives a super contrast to everything that’s gone before.

Memory In Motion is released on 19 April 2024. The band is currently touring – FULL LISTING

Aberdeen Thursday 18 April
Falkirk Friday 19 April
Edinburgh 20 April
Newcastle 21 April
London album launch at Pizza Express, Tuesday 30 April
May dates in France

Memory In Motion on Bandcamp
Jazz Defenders website