Synaesthesia Review
Crowe's group reflects the active cross-breeding currently happening at the young end of the UK jazz scene.
Trinity College pianist Crowe's group reflects the active cross-breeding currently happening at the young end of the UK jazz scene: the members of his quintet on this debut album include bassist Jasper Høiby and drummer Dave Smith from Phronesis, and saxophonist Adam Waldmann from Kairos 4tet. Like those groups, Crowe's band focuses on original compositions, though they're a little less succinctly sinewy than Phronesis, and not as idiomatically broad as Kairos. Crowe is a fluent piano improviser with percussive McCoy Tyner allegiances when things heat up, and guitarist Will Davies lends the band a signature sound where warm-toned sax/piano/guitar arrangements colour the theme statements. But it's the rhythm section partnership of sonorous, bell-clear bassist Høiby (who plays anchoring ostinatos with a peremptory crispness) and bold and imaginative drummer Smith that really imparts the band's drive. Saxophonist Waldmann, a fascinating newcomer of the past year, also plays with real character, his Julian Arguelles influences on tenor sax more audible here than on the Kairos 4tet release.
Towards the Center of Everything Review
On this successor to his 2010 album, Synaesthesia, pianist Sam Crowe has added some New York muscle to his lineup.
On this successor to his 2010 album, Synaesthesia, pianist Sam Crowe has added some New York muscle to his lineup – with Kairos 4tet's Adam Waldmann and Oxford guitarist Will Davies joined on sax by US-resident Brit Will Vinson, genre-crunching downtown drummer Mark Guiliana and bassist Alan Hampton. It's a set of robust originals in which Crowe writes impressively for the sax/guitar voicings that made Synaesthesia stand out, and his tunes are lifted here by the extra firepower. The backbeat-driven title track features Vinson's soulful alto and Davies's shapely reflections; the chiming, floaty Gaia engages Crowe and Hampton in an elegant dance; and Guiliana's hip-hop precision marshals the riff-melody of The Global Brain. Occasionally the plethora of clever sounds seem like a throng of characters in search of stories, but Crowe is a maturing compositional force and his A-list players rise to his challenges.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/may/02/sam-crowe-group-towards-centre-review
Sam Crowe, Symphony Hall Foyer
Originally from Bristol but now based in London pianist and composer Sam Crowe has attracted a compelling amount of critical acclaim for his group’s début album “Synaesthesia”, released in 2009 on the Fire Presents imprint.
Originally from Bristol but now based in London pianist and composer Sam Crowe has attracted a compelling amount of critical acclaim for his group’s début album “Synaesthesia”, released in 2009 on the F-ire Presents imprint. The album is favourably reviewed elsewhere on this site but seeing Crowe’s compositions performed live really brought the music to life for me.
Crowe brought his group to Birmingham for one of the popular free early evening jazz events that take place in the Symphony Hall foyer each Friday under the “Rush Hour Blues” banner. Presented by Birmingham Jazz in conjunction with Symphony Hall RHB is becoming an increasingly important presence on the UK jazz scene with bands from London and other UK regions frequently coming to play. Not that local talent is forgotten, Midlands based artists are still a substantial presence on the agenda, but RHB is now beginning to assume a national importance.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/sam-crowe-group-symphony-hall-foyer-birmingham-10-12-2010