Birmingham based Stoney Lane Records invaded London’s Kings Place with a Venn diagram of a double-bill on Friday and, as I happened to be town, the lure was irresistible. Pianist Hans Koller and trumpeter – bass player Percy Pursglove were the common factor between the two bands. Pursglove’s trio was completed by Paul Clarvis, for once restricting his rhythmic alchemy to use of a conventional drum kit and Koller’s Quartet by a slice of New York, in the shape of drummer Jeff Williams and newly re-located to Birmingham, altoist John O’Gallagher.
The music was overlapping and contrasting as were the personnel. The trio were playing versions of music originally written by Pursglove as a choral and large jazz ensemble work, Far Reaching Dreams of Mortal Souls. With long composed sections of smoothly unwinding melodic lines, shadowed by singing harmony and unexpected shifts, there was a reflective air to much of the short set of of four pieces, inspired by text or ideas from Anne Franck, Nelson Madela, Leonardo da Vinci and Charles Darwin. Clarvis was a joy, often subtly nudging and colouring the implied rhythm of the trumpet’s lines, at others stepping forward and driving things along. Pursglove alternated between trumpet and bass, keeping up a subtle dialogue with Koller on piano, the bass in particular weaving around the pianist’s thoughtful, fluid lines.
The quartet, playing a handful of Koller originals, exploring George Russell’s methods according to the leader, had a similarly melodic thread but with sharper edges, the phrases zig-zagging and swooping across the saxophone’s range. O’Gallagher and Williams’ partnership crackled as they pumped up the energy generating a grooving, anguished swing as the saxophonist explored, dissected and re-worked Koller’s pieces. They brought a whiff of fierce, serious-minded New York style exploration to the hall, matching Koller’s cerebral but thoroughly grounded, communicative approach. They closed the set on a distorted almost bluesey shuffling groover leaving the audience wanting more. ‘We’ve got another hard one’ said Koller. We cheered.
mike collins 
[…] “O’Gallagher and Williams’ partnership crackled as they pumped up the energy generating a grooving, anguished swing as the saxophonist explored, dissected and re-worked Koller’s pieces. They brought a whiff of fierce, serious-minded New York style exploration to the hall, matching Koller’s cerebral but thoroughly grounded, communicative approach. They closed the set on a distorted almost bluesey shuffling groover leaving the audience wanting more. ‘We’ve got another hard one’ said Koller. We cheered.” – Mike Williams […]