SLAMCD2104 Glowering Figs – Glowering Figs

Glowering Figs is an improv trio made up of Dave Fowler (drums), Ivor Kallin (upright electric bass/vocal), and Jerry Wigens (guitar).

The trio was formed in 2015, drummer Dave Fowler and bassist Ivor Kallin already provided the powerhouse rhythm section of free jazz group Ya Basta! and had developed a close understanding over nearly three decades, while Kallin and Wigens knew each other from the London Improvisers Orchestra and a shared interest in the fortunes of Leyton Orient FC. It was here that the idea of the trio emerged during one half-time interval. A purely instrumental unit at the outset, the Figs would soon integrate Kallin’s unique vocal talents as part of their live set.

The name Glowering Figs derives from a loose amalgam of the letters in ‘Fowler’ and ‘Wigens’, an angrier option than the initial ‘hippier’ alternative, ‘Flowering Wigs’. The music in this recording is a selection of material from more than two hours of improvised live playing that took place on a one-day session in Autumn 2016.

“I kept thinking about post-punk oddballs like Blurt and The Very Things while giving this album the thrice-over. Superficially it doesn’t have much in common with them, but there’s a similar whiff of wilful eccentricity about what goes on. Kallin never sings, but rather spontaneously recites and, in places, declaims, albeit politely. Glumly Predicting Snow is a case in point, with a closing reference to marshmallows floating in borscht to boot.” – Nic Jones, Jazz Journal

“The moods range from a whacka wooka Shaft-like guitar riff on “A Plethora of Flowering Wigs” to 60s psychedelia of “07:17 Delayed.” Some fake language that is incoherent are pieced together on the grooving “Wrongie Bongje” while guitar twangs and pickings bounce back and forth between cymbals and piano pounces on “Gaggling and Giggling” and “Trauchling to Dunoon.” Some things stick to the walls, others fall into the pot.” – George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

All tracks improvised live by David Fowler, Ivor Kallin, Jerry Wigens
Recorded on 5 November 2016 at One Cat Studios, Brixton, London
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jon Clayton

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