Review by Des Cowley.
Mark Lockett – Swings & Roundabouts (Thick Records, CD and digital release)
When we think of band leaders, we tend to think of singers, guitarists, sax players, trumpeters. Less so drummers. But NZ-born drummer Mark Lockett – whose career to date has alternated between New Zealand and Australia – is part of a select coterie of drummers (think Jack DeJohnette, Paul Motian, Art Blakey) who opt to lead from behind. As composer and musician, he adopts a forward-leaning approach, while retaining one foot rooted in tradition. His new album – Swings & Roundabouts – which takes a deep dive into the chord-less sound of Ornette Coleman’s sixties quartet – provides a note-worthy example of this new/old ethos in action.
But let’s back up a moment. Between 1959 and 1962, Coleman recorded half a dozen ground-breaking albums for Atlantic that changed the face of jazz. While they confused pundits at the time, the music produced by Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell has stood the test of time, emphasising as it did harmonic innovation, rhythmic dynamism, free-floating melodies, all sifted through a blender of avant-garde, swing, and blues. Arguably, we are still playing catch-up. Lockett, of course, could simply have chosen to record Coleman’s music, but instead he has composed a bunch of new tunes, accentuating the inventive swing and blues at the core of Coleman’s music. In particular, he zeroes in on its capacity to turn on a dime, to lurch off in any direction, without, as he himself says, being ‘bound by complex harmonies and chord progressions.’
Music such as this demands skilled musicians, and Lockett has surrounded himself with a crack team of American players: saxophonist Dave Binney, trumpeter Duane Eubanks, bassist Matt Penman. The onset of the pandemic initially put paid to his plans to record the project in New York (where he’s lived off and on), but he was finally able to make the journey in July 2022, laying down the nine tracks that make up Swings & Roundabouts.
Opening track ‘jazz, swing jazz – The Crib’ starts off with Penman’s drone-heavy bass, groove-laden and lackadaisical, acting as a launch-pad for Binney and Eubanks’ twin horns, treading lightly, as they casually ease in. Lockett maintains a steady beat, even as Eubank’s slow-burn trumpet snakes a forward momentum, building to a bluesy wail. Binney’s solo, when it comes, is a marvel of compression, his alto ostensibly roaming free, while holding tight to the rhythm. ‘Out on Parole’, ushered in by one of those Coleman-inflected catchy themes, ratchets up the pace before giving way to the horns, slip-sliding over choppy percussion and bass. ‘Rhubarb Crumble’ finds the quartet in upbeat mode, the horns unleashing tangled shapes, angular and sharp, anchored by Penman’s modulated bass-lines. ‘G&T’ hinges on a soulful bass riff, overlaid with an easy-going melody, at once playful and heartfelt. ‘Here’s to Ornette’ genuinely swings, with Binney’s alto egged-on by Penman’s walking bass, even as it is pinned-down by Lockett’s steadfastly cool cymbal-work. The album closes out with ‘Level 4’, a brief, knotty piece bursting with energy, which sees Binney’s sax skating over constantly morphing rhythms.
Swings & Roundabouts is the sound of a quartet that – on the face of it – appears to be having fun, revelling in brisk tempos, fast and loose runs, twisting and serpentine melodies, all served up with a dash of swing. Lockett proves himself the ideal time-keeper, meshing in tightly with Penman, creating grooves that galvanize Binney and Eubanks, their jubilant flights careening in multiple directions, before returning, like homing pigeons, to the buoyant heart of Lockett’s compositions.