Review: Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock

The night began with the Nico Widdowson Trio (Nico on piano, Joe MacLaren on double bass, Jordan Hadfield on drums), an energetic young band who immediately captured our attention with a clever bit of stage deception. A languid count in was abruptly followed by a ferociously paced first piece, and the tempestuous speed barely slowed for the entire set.

The band played with such urgency and passion that I feared for the safety of the instrumentsI It was spellbinding to see such attack in their performance, at times it almost bordered on the aggressive. Nico jerked violently in his seat whilst ascending and descending the piano keyboard with such force that I worried he might pull a muscle. When leaning back during bass or drum solos, he often glared into the audience with a devilish grin. And he even introduced one of his pieces as a warning to landlords that they shouldn’t raise rent unexpectedly on their young tenants or they might expect an avante-garde jazz piece to be written about them in retaliation. There were moments of traditional jazz sounds, stride piano, quotes from Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Thelonius Monk. But at it's core this was jazz that was fearless, fighting and inspired by the world today from a young person's perspective. Electrifying.

It was utterly disarming therefore when Nico chose to end the set on a beautifully lyrical ode to his mother. Waves of gentle romantic sound which spoke intimately of love, tenderness and connection. A touching close to the set.

If Nico and his band were the upstart firebrands, then Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock represented the Old Masters. Tim Garland may be an international star but he's also a Watford local and so it was delightful to hear that this was his first performance on the Pump House stage, and he remarked how perfect a setting it was for a night of jazz.

They’re both masters of their instruments. They play with such felicity and precision, such extravagance and control. It’s an absolute joy to see them communicate through music both with one another (their long standing friendship is immediately apparent) and also with us, sharing their musical ideas.

Tim Garland shared the Spike Milligan quotation: A jazz musician is somebody who never plays a piece the same way once! And that was true of their set tonight. Cole Porter's How Deep Is The Ocean was stretched and reshaped in splendid contortions. Tim Garland shared a wonderful piece inspired by a dream he had of being surrounded by underwater creatures. At first he felt them to be threatening him but as they approached and came closer he realised they were imploring him for their help. When he woke, he rushed to composition to produce a piece that was ecological in theme, all about how we can help preserve natural life and improve the current climate disaster's impact on aquatic biodiversity. Gwilym Simcock shared a piece which he wrote that very day on his journey from Berlin to Watford, having dropped his kid off at school that morning and not having been able to sleep the night before because of a cold that woke him up at 4 am. A world premiere!

Overall, a magical night. Genius not at work, but at play.