Review

Five-Way Split : All The Way

Five-Way Split is a new collective formed in 2020 featuring some of the very finest contemporary bebop musicians in the UK. Five-Way Split are :

Quentin Collins - trumpet
Vasilis Xenopoulos - saxophone
Rob Barron - Piano
Matyas Hofecker – Bass
Matt Home - Drums

It’s a vicarious and veracious debut and pretty much phenomenal from start to finish and will sure to have you bouncing and bopping through your day to day grind like a seasoned jazzer.Adjectives like, “crisp,” “chipper,” “idiosyncratic,” “colourful,” “upbeat,” “exciting,” “uplifting,” comes to mind with the sort of mood these guys will put you in and it dazzles in a most exhilarating way. ‘All The Way’ reflects this, with its pedalled bass section rooting you to the spot before the jaunty head kicks in. Collins mellow tone soothes, leading into a forthright and imperious tenor solo bolstered by excellent walking bass and swinging drums giving way to an expressive piano solo adding gravitas. It’s an elegant reflection of the glorious hard bop era whilst simultaneously establishing the band’s sound.
Another highlight is the bluesy ‘Wayne’s Bag’ a eulogy to the late great, Wayne Shorter - here they pay tribute to his four year tenure in the Jazz Messengers. Collins delivers some fine soloing here crescendoing with rapid fire trumpet as he hands over the baton to the sax who, like his comrade of the horn, has a renewed and revitalised attitude on this record. Suffice to say, Five-Way Split are breathtaking at points and deceivingly intricate.
Words Emrys Baird