Know Your Sideman: Gavin Barras

Know Your Sideman, a new Bird is the Worm series that focuses on musicians who consistently appear in the fine print of excellent albums.

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Bassist Gavin Barras has been making a name for himself on the UK jazz scene, but unless you live there you might not have heard of him.

After studying both classical and jazz during his time at the University of Manchester, Barras now records and performs with many of the top jazz artists in the UK scene, as well as working on his own projects.  He is currently a member of the European Union Quartet, Dan Whieldon Trio, Jadid Ensemble, Sarah Ellen Hughes Band, 6Pac Jazz Sextet, Nat Birchall Band, Matthew Halsall Band, Unfurl and Steve Plews Trio.

And if you’re a fan of modern jazz, there’s a good chance that he’s represented in your music library.

Let’s talk about some of the notable recordings of which he’s been a part of…

Nat Birchall – Guiding Spirit

Barras has appeared on two of tenor saxophonist Nat Birchall‘s three albums.  You can’t go wrong with a Birchall album.  The music is, in part, a celebration of the spiritual jazz of the sixties.  If anyone is channeling John Coltrane’s sound in a modern jazz setting, it’s Birchall.  He’s got a ferocious tone that doesn’t sound threatening.  Barras fuses his bass into Birchall’s sound by combining notes that imbue the tracks with a sense of mystery and contemplation.  His brief solo during the transition half-way through the tune “Going to the Mountain” is a wonderful example of what I’m talking about.

Released on the Gondwana Records label, Guiding Spirit was one of the best albums of 2010.  Barras also peformed on Birchall’s 2009 release Akhenaten, another great album, and arguably one of the best releases that year.

Matthew Halsall – Colour Yes

Trumpeter Matthew Halsall is one of best signs of the future of jazz, and part of a new generation of musicians.  With an approach very much in line with Miles Davis’s modal sound (or said differently, the Miles Davis that sounds like he’s playing with a cool swing in a smoky late night jazz club), Halsall bridges the gap between the old school jazz of the fifties with (one of) the new school’s compositional style.  Halsall gives his tunes a palpable melancholia, and Barras uses his bass as the cheerful counterweight to keep things bright eyes and chipper, even when it seems like dark clouds gather up above.  Barras helps bring the swing to the thing.

Released on the Gondwana Records label, Colour Yes was one of the top albums of 2009.  Barras also performed on Halsall’s 2011 On the Go and 2008 release Sending My Love.  All three Halsall albums are exemplary.

European Union Quartet – The Dark Peak

Barras is a founding member of the European Union Quartet.  I originally wrote about this album, “Much like having a planned day off to lounge around but too much energy to do anything other but go out and play in the rain, the European Union Quartet’s The Dark Peak gives the impression of an album full of purposefully introspective tunes foiled by the ensemble’s abounding happiness on recording day.”  Well, that was about six months ago, and I’m still listening to this album, and I stand by that original assessment.  Plenty of life to this music, even as it could be considered rainy day jazz.  Moments that verge on free jazz, others that have a pleasant sway, the quartet’s members give each other room to roam, to find their voice within a particular composition.  It’s a duality that makes it easy to daydream to the music as it is to bounce the head to, depending on your disposition at any one time.

Released in 2011 on the O.A.P. Records label.  The album was one of my original Jazz Picks, back when I first starting contributing to the eMusic new arrivals article.  I’m in the process of writing a standard album review of Dark Peak, which I’ll publish, well, I’m not sure exactly, but soon.  I’ll update this post with a link when I do.

And, in a nice development…

Barras will finally be releasing an album with his own name in the large print.  The Gavin Barras Quintet will be releasing Day of Reckoning in May 2012.  Rounding out the quintet is Ed Jones (tenor sax), Steve Plews (piano), Corey Mwamba (vibes), and Dave Walsh (drums).  It’ll be released on the ASC Records label.  I have an album review forthcoming, but in summary, this recording has many of the rhythmic and melodic attributes of a modern jazz composition (a la tendency to rock instead of swing and melodies that venture off in exciting directions without looking back), yet there is a strong hint of classic late-sixties Blue Note albums, which often had a center-of-gravity forged in swing, even as they moved out to edges of free-jazz performance.  Here’s an album track, titled “Billy Harper”…

The album has been getting played pretty frequently on my stereo since it first arrived.  In fact, it’s kinda been one of those albums that gets me backlogged on all the other reviews I should be writing, which is kinda frustrating for me, but typically is a pretty good indication that an album rates high on the quality index.

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In the lead-up to the album release, I had a few questions for him:

BITW:  What kind of projects would you like to be working on in the near future?  Down the road?

GB:  I’m playing today with a really great oud player from Palestine.  I would like to work with him and others to create some music directly inspired by Ahmed Abdul-Malik.  [Malik] played bass for Thelonious Monk, but also played oud.  He released a few albums mixing jazz and Arabic elements.  Check out the record East Meets West.

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Day of Reckoning by the Gavin Barras Quintet will be released June 11, 2012 on ASC Records.