Specialising in an intelligent and occasionally ironic music"

Q MAGAZINE

"Startling arrangements of memorable, multi-styled compositions mark them as a band of exceptional range."

MOJO

"More drama than the RSC."

THE WIRE

"The music is clever without ever sounding pretentious or over complex."

THE OBSERVER

"The most innovative and elegant contemporary Jazz Quartet on the British scene."

THE TIMES

"If you don' t like this you don't deserve ears."

VOX

"CLEC is a scintillating performance by this British Quartet.

It is a band with a unique personality of it' s own, slightly jokey in manner, but hugely accomplished in execution."

THE OBSERVER

"Artful and witty, their approach is unmistakably European in character, combining memorable , atmospheric compositions with confident, understated playing."

TIME OUT

"Every composition springs new textures and forms on the listener.

This is what ears were designed to be pinned back for"

MUSICIAN MAGAZINE OUT

New Folk Songs - Reviews

MOJO, May, 2001

Excellent fifth album by the artful British jazzers.

One of the things that makes this brainiest of contemporary jazz groups so special is that they have always been able to balance their genre-hopping plethora of ingenuity with a palpable beauty. Here, they return to the virtuosic quartet of Head Boys that formed in '92 - Mark Lockheart (saxes), Huw Warren (piano, accordion), Dudley Phillips (bass), Martin France (drums) - for a series of Eastern Arts-commissioned pieces inspired by East Anglia. Smart composers all, you won't find any of these 'new folk songs' reworked on singers' night but there's much here that's moving, in addition to being impressive. Warren particularly has an alluring melancholy streak in his writing, as witnessed by the lovely Old Song New Song, an adaptation of the ancient Brigg Fair, and Dunwich & The Sea, a haunting portrait of the Suffolk town crumbling over eroding cliffs. This band are perilously close to becoming a national treasure.

Chris Ingham

JAZZWISE, April, 2001

The fact that New Folk Songs was directly inspired by the folk music and landscape of East Anglia may set pulses racing for all the wrong reasons (evoking as it does the stereotypically nightmarish vision of unkempt beards, jesus sandals and horrid sweaters). Let me immediately assuage any doubts: this is a remarkable album, constantly surprising and brilliantly coloured, with some acutely sensitive interplay. The opener 'Pageant' is framed by a circular, minimalist piano riff (with particular echoes of Steve Reich - East anglian Counterpoint?) before settling down into a loping and catchy 7/4 vamp. 'The Lighthouse' is particularly haunting, a tour de force of restraint - once the beguiling slow groove has been established by bass and drums (the excellent pairing of Dudley Phillips and Martin France) a telling dialogue ensues between soprano sax (Mark Lockheart) and recorder (special guest Pamela Thorby, used to great effect on four of the album's 12 tracks). In a typically felicitous use of colour, the track's long fade sees pianist Huw Warren ritualistically marking time with an unchanging two-chord figure, with the 'prepared' piano made to sound like a cimbalom.

Peter Quinn