Off the back of his performance at the Secret Salon the
night before, pianist Elliot Galvin
returned with fellow Dinosaur member, drummer Corrie Dick and was joined by bassist Tom McCredie for his trio set in the Salon Perdu.
An immediate hit with the younger audience members, their
first chart New Model was so popular
a young toddler cried out “yay!”, proving their instant popularity. A very
quiet presence on stage, Galvin seemed far more subdued seated at a grand piano
than during the Saturday set with Dinosaur, stood at multiple keyboards. That
being said, it was appropriate for the gig, as the use of electronics was far
greater, and there were so many different factions to every tune that too
lively a presence on stage may have been simply distracting.
The set comprised of a number of tunes from their debut
album, Dreamland, and new charts ready to be released on their yet to come
album. The constant between these two albums, one can deduce, is the ease with
which this group transitions from ethereal free-time into solid grooves, no
doubt helped by the relationship between McCredie and Dick.
Their exploration of the future of jazz does not just press
forward, but also takes what has gone before and revamps it, proved in their
tune Blues, a traditional blues, or
so it appears initially, that almost immediately deviates from the standard
12-bar chord sequence. Galvin has an undeniable ear for the potential of
sounds. At one point, he both plucked the strings of the piano at the same time
as using the hammer to strike them also. This created an almost muted sound
that one would usually expect from an electric guitar, and diversified the
sound world of the trio. Similarly, his use of old Punch and Judy recordings
was both humorous and ingenious.
It would be reasonable to expect that such “out there”
performance techniques would detract from the overall experience, and just be
there for the sake of it, but once again, our teeny tiny audience members
proved us wrong. The toddlers dancing away proved that the up-and-coming generation
will absolutely love the music of the Elliot Galvin Trio and all those who
follow in their footsteps.