REVIEWS
MONDAY, 25 AUGUST 2008
CHIASMUS REVIEW IN JAZZWISE MAGAZINE
Mackenzie (not to be confused with his near-namesake the former editor of the Sun), is a Scottish guitarist who likes to keep a foot in both the Jazz and Folk camps. His acclaimed nine-piece band Vital Signs unites the two tendencies; this quartet disc, on the other hand, focuses almost exclusively on the jazz end of the spectrum, although traditional Caledonian airs can perhaps be detected spectrally in the background of one or two of the 12 Mackenzie originals featured here. The titles may tend towards the quirky - 'The Fall of Stout', 'Hip Hoperation' - but the sound is impeccably light and contemporary, with Mackenzie and splendid saxophone foil Arguelles weaving fresh, fragrant melodic lines around one another, all the while driven forward by the supple bass lines of O'Donell and propulsive stickwork of Cosker. Further proof, if any were needed, that jazz is alive and thriving north of the border. Robert Shore (Jazzwise)
