Tony Kofi’s Sphinx play the music of Ornette Coleman

Tackling the music of one of jazz’s most distinctive originals, in a trio format, with no written scores, would be audacious enough even without the unforeseen traffic problems that delayed bassist Larry Bartley’s arrival, forcing him to virtually run onstage and into the first number.

Fortunately, spontaneity is the essence of Ornette’s muse, and Bartley rose to the challenge with a sonorous, big-toned statement, making full use of the instrument’s natural resonance, that set the scene for the leader’s solo, which moved from an uncanny semblance of Ornette’s unmistakeable burning cry to encompass R&B inflections and furious contemporary harmonic language before taking off into a scalding free improvisation. On the ballad “Beauty Is A Rare Thing” Kofi captured the master’s keening intensity over the rich tones of arco bass, while “Humpty Dumpty” demonstrated a perfect grasp of the unique emotional ambience of mid-tempo Ornette, at once mournful and uplifting.

The set flowed seamlessly from one number to the next, with Rod Youngs on drums exhibiting an effortless rhythmic fluency, and the whole band giving a lesson in rapport - with each other, and also with the breadth and diversity of Ornette’s material. The performance built up to it’s apogee in the second set with an all-out interpretation of “Lonely Woman”.

Bartley manages to conjure an impressive presence from his unwieldly instrument; he combined with Young’s subtly shifting pulse to launch Kofi into a stunning solo that reached beyond the source of it’s inspiration to evoke some of the uncompromising passion and intensity of Ayler and Coltrane’s final recordings. The band showed how thoroughly they’ve internalised the language of one of the great mavericks, and the packed house and rapturous ovation showed how much of an appetite there is for this seldom-performed music when someone’s prepared to risk it!

- Eddie Myer