Jasper Høiby's Fellow Creatures unleash the beast at Pizza

Performing tunes from their recent first disc together, Høiby's group kicked off at Pizza Express Jazz Club with a focused intensity. 'Folk Song' had an organic ebb and flow of unison melody and free improvisation, before gradually bleeding into the album's title track 'Fellow Creatures' – Dick cooking up a quiet storm with his brushes under Lockheart's rich tenor sound. Forming an organic 35-minute opening odyssey these two tunes saw the musicians zone in as if part of a single organism, Jurd and Lockheart its two loquacious heads.

The pair second-guessed and interjected into each other's lines intuitively, always craving further invention. The virtuosic central bass riff of 'Song for the Bees' flitted from deft harmonics to cavernous low tones in a hard-grooving samba, while 'Tangible' was dark and brooding – Barry providing illumination with a beautiful piano solo.

Høiby mentioned jazz's tradition of more established musicians mentoring those coming through, but emphasised how much he and Lockheart were learning from these emerging players. Some of the night's most exhilarating interplay came as different members dropped out to allow sparse contrapuntal duels to take place – Høiby and Lockheart locking horns on 'Before', and Jurd and Dick sparking off each other on 'Suddenly, Everyone'. On this last tune, Høiby once again showed his flair for agile funky licks, while maintaining his warm, expansive tone.

– Jon Carvell
– Photo by Roger Thomas