Catch Me

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STAN SULZMANN saxophones
JIM HART vibes, marimba
KIT DOWNES piano
TIM GILES drums

Neon began life as a trio with saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, pianist Gwilym Simcock and vibraphonist Jim Hart. Simcock’s departure could have been fatal but has led to new possibilities and released different energies. The addition of pianist Kit Downes and drummer Tim Giles now allows Neon to explore wholly fresh percussive and rhythmic areas in their music.

You could describe Catch Me as chamber jazz but that wouldn’t really do it justice. If those words suggest to you the spirited use of counterpoint and dynamic interplay, then listen to Kit Downes’ duet with Tim Giles on Stan Sulzmann’s Nepapanees. Did ‘chamber jazz’ ever sound that down-home or funky? Or listen to Jim Hart’s delightful, melancholy rubato ballad, The Last Of The Leaves, and hear how Hart’s vibes and Giles’ drums connect in such amazing, yet subtle patterns.

“The Quartet’s use of counterpoint, its rhythmic flexibility, imaginative interplay and lyrical and inventive soloing combine improvisation with a scrupulous attention to detail without compromising the organic development of each performance”. IRISH TIMES *****

“A delightful surprise….purposefully hip and vibrant…Hart’s conversations with Downes sound like some of the most seductive piano-vibes dialogues this side of John Lewis’s and Milt Jackson’s in the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet”. GUARDIAN ****