Olie Brice Quartet – October 2026
Progress Theatre, Reading. Friday 23 October
Rachel Musson tenor saxophone
Alexander Hawkins piano
Olie Brice bass
Will Glaser drums
On the storm swept evening of 23 October, when none but the brave dared to venture far beyond the comfort of their own home, bassist/composer Olie Brice assembled his favourite musicians from the field of British contemporary and freely improvised jazz to present a concert of original music, mostly drawn from his recent album ‘All It Was’, at Reading’s Progress Theatre. One member of the audience described the event as ‘brilliant’, another as ‘spectacular’ and ‘adventurous’, while yet another went so far as to say, ‘Wonderfully creative. I absolutely loved it … very much in keeping with other challenging performances I’ve been to in the past, ranging from Eric Dolphy with John Coltrane to Cecil Taylor’.
Let’s be honest, ‘free jazz’ isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. I admit to initial reservations. But I was quickly swept away by the irresistible force of creative energy released in the first number and held firmly in its wake for the entire evening, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world
What’s more, as Mick Martin observed, we were privileged to share the company of ‘a top-notch band of great musicians’ – Rachel Musson’s haunting tenor saxophone, Alexander Hawkins’ restless flights of invention and the tonal colours of Will Glaser’s ever-shifting rhythmic pulse with the distinctive B-O-O-M of his bass drum. Inspired by such past masters of ‘free jazz’ as Don Cherry, Mal Waldon and Cecil Taylor as well as the contemporary figure of John Lindberg. Olie Brice is a true leader, whose enthusiasm readily communicates with the audience, He also combines his great qualities as a bass player with sensitivity as a composer, providing the thread that binds the group together
As the shock waves of the first untitled number gradually subsided I began to appreciate the broad sweep of Brice’s canvas. The first set encompassed the aching beauty of: ‘Morning, Mourning’, a moving elegy for the loss of Olie’s father, Tosh Price; Mal Waldron’s ‘Seagulls of Kristiansund’; an evocation of a ‘seagull ballet’ over the waters of a Norwegian fiord where he found solace from American society in the 1960s; the dancing drum sticks of Will Glaser over the rims of his kit in ‘Listening Intently to Raptors’, a dedication to American bassist John Lindberg and the darkly melancholic ‘Spanish tinge’ of ‘And We Dance on the Firm Earth’.
The musicians returned to the stage in an expansive mood to open the second set with ‘After a Break’. Not, as you might expect a reference to the interval itself, but rather a joyful expression of how Olie Brice felt following a fallow period of writer’s block. ‘It just happened,’ he said. A sentiment no doubt shared by Alexander Hawkns when he unexpectedly transported us back in time to a 1920’s Harlem ‘rent party’ with a resounding burst of ‘piano history’ – a glorious melange of ragtime, stride, barrel house blues and boogie-woogie. Short and sharp, it absolutely took the breath away!
A ‘Happy Song for Joni’ was exactly that, a delightful dedication to Olie Brice’s five-year-old goddaughter, Joni.
As the evening progressed, Alexander Hawkins, who will be premiering his eleven-piece ensemble project ‘Willow Music’ on the opening night of the Berlin Jazz Festival on 29 October, became ever more adventurous. Indeed, his playing on Don Cherry’s ‘Awake No’ and ‘A Rush of Memory Was All It Was’ scaled unbelievable heights of emotional power and technical virtuosity.
An evening that will remain etched in the memory for many years to come concluded with ‘Blues for Johnny Dyani’, a fitting tribute to the émigré South African bass player who Olie Brice counts amongst his favourites. The anniversary of his early death aged forty in 1986 fell on 24 October.
In addition to thanking the Progress Theatre Front of House team for their warm hospitality and excellent support with sound and lighting I should like to leave the final words to Chris Walsh and Gabrielle Stanley:
‘We just wanted to congratulate your team for a spectacular gig last night. This was, musically, a little further out than you usually go, so well done for having the courage to program something so adventurous.’
Review posted here by kind permission of Trevor Bannister
Photo by Steve Foster @jazzshots (Instagram & FB)
