Robert Mitchell at Jazz Steps - photo by Bob Meyrick
Jazz Steps has been running for almost fifteen years now, bringing ludicrously accomplished artists to the small but perfectly formed theatre that adjoins the Arnold Leisure Centre. Anyone who saw the 14-piece Guy Barker Orchestra (and Michael Brandon off Dempsey and Makepeace handling narration duties) perform their version of The Magic Flute can attest to the sheer quality the organisers have crammed into the space. The Robert Mitchell 3io was no exception to this unrelentingly high level of quality. Touring their second album The Embrace, the 3io features Mitchell on piano, Tom Mason on Bass and Richard Spaven on drums.
Bespectacled and unassuming, Mitchell craned over the keys and started the gig with his interpretation of the Aphex Twin’s Alberto Balsalm. Slow notes on the piano eventually joined by a thrumming bass rhythm and the jumpy beats of Spaven’s drums formed a smooth introduction to the group and their impressively varied list of influences. Any band that can fit the Aphex Twin and a version of Schumann’s Traumerei into the same playlist wins points from me. Moving through a beautifully evocative version of Little Dragon’s Twice the band slid smoothly into the remarkably insistent beat of Tom Mason’s A Desperate Man, the tapping feet of the audience tapping creating a fourth instrument. The first half closed with the hectic jump and snap of Third Stream eliding into smooth and steady trills before breaking up into intense, halting, staccato beats.
Robert Mitchell 3io - photo by Bob Meryrick
Mitchell is a fascinating artist to watch. When playing slowly his hands hover over the board like those of a choosy diner picking which desert to snaffle first, and he nods to himself with pleasure when the key he picks matches the one he knows he had to play. Later, on urgent numbers like Rockers Round Window, his fingers are an almighty blur as they slam notes out of the piano. Over on the drums Spaven’s face contorts in fierce concentration as he matches Mitchell’s speed, and Mason forms a relaxed centre between the two, looking absurdly calm and unruffled as his fingers send hypnotic basslines through the air.
After the break they blasted out the restless Maz, the unsettling precision of A Tear For Now and a funky tribute to Mitchell’s father, The Embrace. For an encore we were treated to “Cumulus”, played mostly on the woodwork of 3io’s instruments, the band tapping away at the inside of the piano, the edge of the bass and the rims of the drums. This is just rubbing their talent in, frankly. Hand these guys sticks and an empty log and they could make music good enough to keep you spellbound for an evening.
The next gig in Jazz Steps season sees the singer Liane Carroll visit the Bonington Theatre in Arnold on the 29 September.
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