Jed Levy - Phil Robson Quartet: ‘The Unpredictability of the Sea’

Saxophonist Jed Levy and guitarist Phil Robson have collaborated on their first quartet album - ‘The Unpredictability of the Sea’ - and balance jazz tradition and modernity across ten tracks.

Levy and Robson each provided five of the tracks and they’re joined by Mark Hodgson (bass) and Roberto Gatto (drums). Although based either side of the Atlantic (presumably the title’s unpredictable sea), there’s a real mutual musical understanding across this collection.

The title track itself is provided by Levy, but makes exquisite use of the whole quartet. A drum opening section before the sax/guitar melody rides along into first sax then guitar improvisation, leading nicely into a Hodgson bass solo.

The way the sax and guitar combo works on The Unpredictability of the Sea extends across the album, including the humorously-titled 3-Chord Trick. There’s space for improvisation but something terribly engaging about the way the two leaders weave between each other.

Although many of the tracks bowl along unremittingly, the tenderness of Levy’s Love Loss similarly combines the best of the whole quartet.

Each of these individual tracks contributes to a fine quartet album that, without the sometimes ubiquitous piano element, allows space for melodic development and improvisation.

‘The Unpredictability of the Sea’ is out on 8 May