Simon Little, Jez Carr, and Mike Haughton Release Foreground Music, Vol. 1

by Kevin Johnson Friday, December 21st, 2012

Simon Little has teamed up with pianist Jez Carr and saxophonist Mike Haughton to release Foreground Music, Vol. 1, an album of beautiful and freely improvised music. While its rolling textures and seemingly mind-meld moments make it sound like they’ve worked together for a lifetime, the eight track collection was recorded the second time the group had ever played together as a trio. The first was at a gig.

“Even though it was a straight ahead jazz function gig, we quickly established (in the brief soundcheck!) that the three of us worked well together and clearly shared a similar musical vocabulary,” bassist Little explained. “Literally the minute we’d set up our equipment Mike started playing and Jez and I joined in. What followed was an extended free improvisation that said far more than anything we could have planned. The three of us knew immediately that this was something we’d like to explore again.”

Little, who hold down the low end on double bass, creates melodic bass lines while provoking the musical conversation.

“We didn’t discuss what we were going to play or even particularly what sound we were going for,” he wrote. “I took a whole brace of basses with me, plus my trusty Pod X3 Pro and Looperlative LP1. In the end I played the entire session on the Triumph upright bass. Mike played mostly soprano saxophone with a little tenor.”