Oriole Music

John L Walters
Wednesday September 6, 2006
The Guardian

Oriole Live @ The Vortex, London

Bands fronted by guitarists are frequently seen as an excuse for wailing and thrashing. Oriole, the sextet led by guitarist Jonny Phillips (part of the dynamic F-IRE Collective), provides plenty of useful evidence to the contrary. Sure, his parts are high in the mix, but he plays an acoustic guitar, specialising in intricate rhythm patterns and free-flowing, Spanish-tinged solos.

The arrangements seem to spring from Phillips'playing, sometimes feeling as if the band were one big guitar, with chiming piano from Nick Ramm and refreshingly understated drumming from Seb Rochford.

Oriole's regular frontline is the highly effective pairing of tenor sax and cello: superb saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and Basquiat Strings leader Ben Davis. However, tonight Laubrock is unavailable and Acoustic Ladyland frontman Pete Wareham is deputising.
Migration to the Orange Trees shows Oriole at their best. The piece moves forward with assurance over an unshowy drum groove. There's a good balance between writing and improvisation: Phillips isn't afraid to include long through-composed passages, with ace counterpoint, while maintaining the impetus of a jazz performance.

Wareham's presence as substitute emphasises Phillips's strengths as band-leader and writer, and adds another slant to the sound. The grandiose Medem/ Temba displays the saxophonist's muscular style, while the delicate First Flight, with its lovely theme for cello and tenor sax, shows how easily he inhabits the radiant Oriole soundworld.

John L Walters
Friday May 26, 2006
The Guardian

There's no trace of "second-album syndrome" in Oriole's follow up to Song for the Sleeping. Bandleader and prolific guitarist-composer Jonny Phillips seems to have tunes coming out of his ears, yet he has the discipline to make them into satisfying pieces. He also has a fantastic team to interpret his compositions, mostly drawn from the F-ire Collective.

At the heart of the band is the subtle interplay between Phillips's lightly phrased guitar, Ingrid Laubrock's tenor saxophone, Ben Davis's cello and Adriano Adewale Itauna's percussion. Backed up by sympatico bass and drums, the Oriole sound is a kind of South American or Spanish-tinged world-jazz that is easy on the ear but rarely bland (though it would have benefited from a more robust production).

And just when you think you know what to expect, Phillips adds another timbre, such as Julia Biel's voice, or the reeds of Idris Rahman (from the Soothsayers) to keep things interesting, or delivers a catchy crowd-pleaser such as the double-sax-led Sunshine Continuous. Laubrock, who was outstanding on the recent short tour with Guinga and Monica Vasconcelos, just gets better and better.

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