Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra album

FIDDES VS TINKLER

(Rattle)

8/10

Fid resRather than just being 10 pieces for a big band with a trumpet as the featured solo instrument, this is an extraordinarily coherent suite-like work, meticulously sculpted by composer Andy Fiddes to make trumpeter Scott Tinkler’s playing shine with phenomenal luminescence in a big-band context. But nor is it merely a series of opportunities to hear Tinkler being pensive here or explosive there. It is an inexorable journey through assorted sonic lands, each highlighting different colours that the band can generate, and thereby shifting the shade and intensity of the spotlight on Tinkler.

And few musicians are capable of generating such force on any instrument as the Melburnian. Laser-precise, razor-edged and granite-hard, his trumpet could blast holes in a dozen big bands, let alone perforate with a series of incandescent solos the diverse and sympathetic settings that Fiddes has crafted for him. In doing so the composer has also ensured this is the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra’s finest album to date, with a sense of mystery allowed to creep in alongside the inevitable raw power and energy.