Jazz review: Laura MacDonald /Martina Almgren Project

Published on Tuesday 2 February 2010 09:03

LAURA MacDONALD/MARTINA ALMGREN PROJECT *** THE HUB, EDINBURGH

LATER this week Tom Bancroft and Laura MacDonald will co-lead a studiously balanced gender mix in the Band of Eden, but saxophonist MacDonald stole a march in this latest development, with her ongoing collaboration with Swedish drummer Martina Almgren.

They went one better and asserted female dominance, with five women in the nine-strong ensemble.

The band mixed home-based talent – MacDonald on alto and soprano saxes, pianist Steve Hamilton, Lorna MacDonald (no relation) on bass trombone, and cellist Su-a Lee – with Swedish visitors, including saxophonist Joachim Milder and Almgren's husband, Owe, on electric bass.

No clue to the size or make-up of the ensemble was available in the jazz festival brochure, so it was a surprise when they all trooped on.

Even the band's name had changed – it was now a Project. It was not, however, a commission, and there was no new music written specifically for the expanded line-up.

Almgren's spare, reflective Maya and MacDonald's increasingly entangled Meaning provided a rather earnest start to proceedings

But both tempo and energy picked up on the saxophonist's Blowfish.

Therafter they turned to excerpts from longer works, beginning with Almgren's Walking In Circles, the first of four selections from her Freedom of Movement suite.

Macdonald raided her Islay project of last year for the serene Landscapes and the feisty Tickle, while Almgren revealed a more playful side of her music in Quick Time and the quirky Dance In July.