The line-up of this group is Peter Fairclough (drums & percussion), Hayley Youell (vocals & keyboards), Fred Thelonius Baker (bass) and Dave Bainbridge (keyboards, guitar & bouzouki). Dave is probably the best known of the four due to his excursions with Iona, while I have come across Fred where he has been working with Fairport’s Ric Sanders, but the other two names were new to me. Apparently Peter has appeared with Keith Tippett, John Harle, Ute Lemper, Mike Westbrook, The Bournemouth Sinfonietta and many others and has released four albums either solo or with Keith, while Hayley has performed with The British Expeditionary Force, A Certain Kind of Person & Tiny Little Secrets.
While many progheads may search this out just for Dave’s connections, they may be a little surprised in what they find, as here we have a very polished jazz band that are bouncing ideas off each other with some finesse. The musicians are all that one wants from a jazz band, in that they are all consummate experts and the bass lines in particular are just sublime, while Hayley has one of those voices that is so very much at home in a jazz club. It isn’t nearly as challenging as the jazz I personally like to listen to, but if you just want something that is polished and could easily hit on the airwaves this then just may be for you.
