SLAMCD 261

Album Title: Arboretum

Band Name: Led Bib

Musicians:

Pete Grogan – Alto Sax

Chris Williams – Alto Sax

Toby McLaren – Keyboards

Liran Donin – Bass(Acoustic & Electric)

Mark Holub – Drums

Tracks:

1. Clatter - composer: Mark Holub - 3:47

2. Work Prospects - composer: Mark Holub - 5:36

3. Joyous Hangover - composer: Mark Holub - 6:07

4. Flashing Indicator - composer: Mark Holub - 5:22

5. Aural Assault - composer: Mark Holub - 5:32

6. 1ère Gymnopédie - composer: Eric Satie, arranger: Mark Holub - 4:45

7. Post Invasion Plan - composer: Chris Williams - 7:17

8. Debts - composer: Mark Holub - 4:53

9. Gnossienne No 1 - composer: Eric Satie, arranger: Mark Holub - 7:31

10. Memories Can’t Wait - composer: David Byrne, arranger: Mark Holub - 10.21

Recorded at The Premises Studio, 201-205 Hackney Road, London E2 8JL on 16 January 2005

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Dill Katz

JAZZ WISE July 2005

New Jersey smacks into Hackney on this splendidly energetic debut from a horribly young band with big ambitions. New York-born Holub is the driving force of the quintet, and it's his experience of the downtown scene which he's now trying to fuse with the maybe not so hip but certainly equally loud London free environment.

The results won't win prizes for subtlety, but from the raucous, Softs evoking racket of the aptly named 'Clatter', the band lays out its credentials: a double sax attack, rafts of distorted Rhodes and a drummer intent on soling like hell and the devil take the hindmost. It's all strangely redolent of 70s jazz rock, which may be no surprise with Dill Katz on production. Titles like 'Aural Assault' and 'Post Invasion Plan' (ah that there was such a thing) continue the message, with slabs of spitting improvisation squaring off against urgent riffs. The re-working of Satie is novel, with 'Gnossiene No 1' given an eastern(well, east end) reading that has all the verve of Ridley Road market. The band are also better when they take the foot off the throttle(as on 'Joyous Hangover') then maybe even they realise, and if you can carve through the bluff and bluster that curls around most numbers, you will find Arboretum a roaringly daft but highly enjoyable first album.

TIME OUT

"Led by New Jersey-born drummer Mark Holub, this London-based punk-jazz quintet certainly flaunt their John Zorn obsessions (the twin alto sax frontline, the frequent excursions into willfully hardcore improv) and also share Zorn's fondness for klezmer (taking an Erik Satie theme into Yiddish territory). But they cover other bases: the bubbly Fender Rhodes on 'Joyous Hangover' and 'Aural Assault' recalls Herbie Hancock; the fractured funk of 'Clatter' is pure Art Ensemble of Chicago; while their lengthy assault on Talking Heads' 'Memories Can't Wait' shows a more ruminative mode." John Lewis Time Out

Arboretum, Led Bib SLAMCD 261

Arboretum begins with a piece (appropriately named ‘Clatter’) that nails Led Bib’s stylistic colours firmly to the mast: a resounding crash of squealing saxophones, clanking Fender Rhodes and pounding drums is followed by a funky riff. Thereafter, the music played by drummer Mark Holub’s band moves easily and naturally between these approaches, sour horn theme statements ushering in driving riffs that suddenly give way to sprawling, clattering free-for-alls; rubato introductions slowly coalescing into bustling, hard-swinging pieces spearheaded by barbed-wire-abrasive saxophone solos, howling electric piano, spurting bass and tumbling drums. The bristling energy driving the ten tracks on this no-holds-barred album is occasionally reminiscent of Bobby Previte’s more rock-based projects, but Led Bib – despite their nods to Erik Satie, who, eccentric that he was, would surely have approved of their vigorously irreverent versions of his ‘Gymnopédie’ and ‘Gnossienne’ material, today inappropriately celebrated as wistful advert fodder – are more free-jazz-oriented than Previte, and their viscerally powerful music should appeal to a wide constituency: fans of hard-edged, punky rock, free-jazz listeners, funk aficionados. Their gig(Tuesday 10 January), on the evidence of this immediately accessible album, promises to be an affair to remember. The Vortex.

The Wire, October 2005

"Unruly, Pinski Zoological sounds, these, from New Jersey-born drummer Mark Holub's energetic group. With two alto saxophones, Fender Rhodes and bass, it's a deliberately old-fashioned concept that manages to work fresh angles on something as hackneyed as a Satie "Gymnopodie" and a David Byrne song. Holub does almost all of the writing, though saxophonist Chris Williams claims a credit with the fine "Post Invasion Plan". Gritty, raunchy jazz from a group who deserve to be checked." Brian Morton.

JAZZ VIEWS JUNE 2006

Led by New Jersey born drummer Mark Holub, this London based 5 piece have been gigging for a couple of years now, and were the recipients of the 2005 Peter Whittingham Jazz Award. On this debut recording Led Bib’s music comes across as a melange of East Village meets East End; with Soft Machine sounds colliding with Hardcore Improv, and at times, Headhunters turned headbangers. It’s Holub who’s responsible for the majority of the albums compositions, and the CD gets under way with the well titled ‘Clatter’, which speedily establishes the Band’s trademark, pared down theme statements interspersed with squalling sax dominated free for alls. I was very much reminded of some of that late 60’s / early 70’s Parisian output of dubious provenance by the Art Ensemble of Chicago with it’s ability to move from dirge to splurge in an instant. The fin de siecle Paris of Erik Satie’s ‘Iere Gymnopedie’ and ‘Gnossiene No 1’ are also well and truly given a good seeing to, the limpid cadences of the former being not so much deconstructed as devastated in a few holds barred, Certificate 18 performance. This is some way from the reverential, old Blood, Sweat and Tears take on Satie’s gently repetitive depiction of the athletic exercises of Greek youths; while the simple piano melody of the 1st Gnossiene was just about recognisable before it was kletzmered away. ‘Work Prospects’ opens and closes with a grooving, minor Fender led riff which sandwiches some excellent and involved alto playing, while on ‘Flashing Indicator’ volume and velocity are increased with another rhythmically propulsive and well realised sax feature framed against some furious riffing . Walking bass guitar introduces the, relative, ‘Aural Assault’ of the title, and Toby McLaren’s solo journey on this is, perhaps, ‘Herbie Rides Again’ into the Heart of Darkness. Saxophonist Chris Williams’ galumphing ‘Post Invasion Plan’ (presumably) showcases his own, spiralling alto solo, while David Byrne’s ‘Memories Can’t Wait’ is given an often stately reading and evokes the latter day Softs. As the album’s closer, it part features some well considered, reflective and atmospheric playing. To then, the pace and loudness had only really slackened on the contemplative ‘Joyous Hangover’, and on ‘Debts’ which demonstrated the characteristic interplay between the saxes of Grogan and Williams. The latter certainly represents some of the more couth and finessed playing to be found on a disc which encompasses a hefty number of post Ornette stylistic areas ranging from Free Jazz through Free Improv to the NY Downtown scene, with plentiful Funk and Punk en route. And yet, despite this diversity and seeming disparity, the sheer energy, spiritedness and raggedy togetherness of the playing makes ‘Arboretum’ an uplifting experience, and the album has an overall, winning coherence. A fine debut.

Reviewed by Mike Hodges

Music Boom

David Byrne, Eric Satie e avant jazz di Cosimo Parisi

Led Bib è un band londinese guidata dal batterista americano Mark Holub. Arrivato nella capitale inglese ha pensato subito a questo progetto con una band singolare, un quintetto con due sax alto, Pete Grogan e Chris Williams, Toby McLaren al Fender Rhodes e Liran Donin al contrabbasso ed al basso elettrico. Le idee compositive di Holub provengono dalle tendenze più avanzate di NY, da nomi come Bobby Previte e Wayne Horwitz. In Europa ha assorbito la libertà del free jazz suonato a Londra ed ha messo insieme questa band, fin da adesso una delle sorprese più importanti dell´anno. L´Inghilterra è stata patria di sassofonisti contralto di alto livello, dediti a generi diversi, dal bop al free, ma con la caratteristica di un suono tagliente ed aggressivo: Peter King, Trevor Watts, il giamaicano Joe Harriott, Mike Osborne, più di recente John Lloyd e Jason Yarde. I due giovani Pete Grogan e Chris Williams si inseriscono bene in questa tradizione, l´uno dalla voce più drammatica, l´altro più composto, ambedue tecnicamente molto ferrati e precisi quando vanno in unisono nei momenti in cui gli arrangiamenti lo richiedono. Liran Donin con i suoi cambi dal basso elettrico allo strumento acustico dà un contributo prezioso ed il Fender Rhodes porta un tocco di jazz-rock/funky che rende la musica di agevole fruizione. Una composizione di David Byrne ("Memories Can´t Wait") e due di Erik Satie ("Gymnopedie" e "Gnossienne") sono affrontate con irriverenza verso l´originale, mutate nella struttura armonica e ritmica per dare spazio alla fantasia improvvisativa dei musicisti, ed a quella di arrangiatore del leader Mark Holub. Arboretum è un lavoro perfettamente riuscito che mette insieme - con sapienza - tendenze diverse del jazz acustico ed elettrico.