Jazz Review

"It’s taken them a long time, but jazz is a slow business, a lifetime’s procedure, and now so many of the young men and women who were seeding the new British jazz of the 80s have become - ten, a dozen, even fifteen years later - some of the young elders, still fresh enough to seem like green shoots, but with roots aplenty too.

Perrin has drifted in and out of view over this period.  An excellent band pianist, a gifted writer, he’s taken this opportunity to release a record of his own - and a very personal statement it is, joyful, pensive and poignant along the way.  It’s a very uplifting session, drawing as it does on a worldview that has rivulets of highlife, reggae and a soulful sort of funk running through it.  Worldly rather than world-music, the sound still works from a British base. Though the band has a multinational personnel, it’s to Perrin’s credit that it doesn’t come out like some straining-to-be-exotic goulash.  The sounds and rhythms are beautifully clear and decisive... 

As a composer, he secures a tight, almost pop-song feel to his pieces they’re wasteless and clever, full of little melodic hooks, and with many pieces around the four-five minute mark they’re structured to be instantly “accessible”.
But neither do they talk down to us, or inhibit the rambunctious playing of the two-trombone frontline, which is marvellously bright and witty and flavoursome. When they’re playing in three, as on ‘E”, they make it seem as fluidly easy as when they’re chomping into a more skanking sort of beat.  If I’ve any complaint, it’s that I could have done with more of Perrin the soloist: he leaves many of those duties to Taylor and Bassey, and they’re great, but listen to Roland’s wonderful introduction to the genuinely affecting “What I Say (About You)” Whichever way you look at it and listen to it, it’s a terrific record..."

By Richard Cook

Straight No Chaser

Roland shifted the mood for the second half, adapting a selection of familiar jazz and classical themes to a frequently Latin-flavoured piano-trio treatment. Aided by bassist Oroh Angiama and percussionist Helder Pack, Perrin cherished Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, brought a Brazilian sway to Coltrane's Giant Steps, a salsa feel to a Scott Joplin rag and a chordal urgency to Abdullah Ibrahim, and built a tribute to the late Dudu Pukwana into a jubilant South African townships groove. A jazz evening off the beaten track, but delivered with affection and imagination.

"Roland Perrin has long been one of the UK's most underrated jazz composers and arrangers. His deep appreciation and subtle flair for Latin, Caribbean and African music was honed in collaborations with such luminaries as the great South African horn player Dudu Pukwana and Cuban maestro Juan de Marcos Gonzalez. The delicate harmony and interplay between the two trombone front line is something special, more than ably supported by Brazilian bassist Matheus Nova, drummer Helder Pack from Mozambique and Roland on piano, accordion and melodica. Assured compositions and sublime arrangements make this refreshingly unpretentious outfit one to watch...

... Buy this CD and see the sun come out from behind the clouds."

by Jonathon Walton

Ham & High

"This interesting collection of originals reflects much of the world’s music, while managing to avoid eclecticism…the two-trombone front line has warmth and panache… well worth checking out…"

by Mike Hobart

All about Jazz

"...Roland (Perrin) .... steeped in African and Latin American influences... guaranteed to get any room dancing...."

by John Eyles