SLAMCD212 Alison Bentley Quartet – Alison Bentley Quartet

Vocalist Alison Bentley leads her quartet over 10 self-composed tracks, with saxophonist Mornington Lockett appearing on 4, recorded in 1994.

Alison Bentley: vocals
Jonathan Gee: piano
Dave Jones: double bass
Paul Cavaciutti: drums
Mornington Lockett (tenor saxophone on tracks 3,6,9,10)

“Another example of a really good creative musician who just happens to be a singer. All the tracks are originals written by Alison, who chooses to use her voice as an instrument for most of the time -only five out of the ten tracks are songs. Her high clear tones scat effortlessly around the most intricate phrases with an intonation as pure as her voice. The music is modern jazz, modal-based, which dips into the avant-garde as on the track ‘Mink’. However, the band show their be-bop roots on the tune ‘Pigs’ on which Paul Cavaclutti is particularly outstanding. I note that it was recorded at The Premises, which has one of the best sounding pianos in London, and Jonathan Gee makes the most of it, especially on the track ‘Maybe’. Like her music, Alison’s songs are lyrical, whimsical and eclectic. The CD explores the styles of jazz waltz, samba, funk and rock through to straight-ahead Swing and the band is equally at home in each. On four of the tracks the quartet is joined by tenor saxophonist Mornington Lockett, who compliments the music, blends beautifully with Alison’s voice, and adds another excellent dimension to this very interesting debut. Recommended.” – Lee Gibson, Musician

All words and music by Alison Bentley.
Recorded July and December at the Premises Studios, London.
Engineered by Simon Zagorski-Thomas.
Mastered by Tim Turan.

SLAM CATALOGUE