NORMAN MEEHAN QUINTET: THE BELLS: REVIEWS

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Are there signs here that New Zealand jazz has a distinctive voice? No doubt.

Pianist Norman Meehan's quintet has made a very polished set of original music. A well-knit rhythmic energy, courtesy of the CL Bob rhythm section, drives tracks like the Latin groove of The Desert and The Parched Land. The writing is strong, with several degrees more character than the current crop of local lounge jazz units.

Mo'Socious is an especially telling tune, beautifully voiced and Meehan's spare and delicate style takes the music into some affecting, reflective moments. Elsewhere though, there's a shade too much playing it safe. The theme for The Bells, set up by Tim Jaray's bass solo, establishes a strong Mingus-like mood and builds to a certain tension then dissipates into a wandering swing excursion - intensity undone by an underlying coolness. Still, Meehan and his group have made one of the most assured local jazz releases you'll hear this year.
***1/2
John Kennedy

Wellington based Norman Meehan - pianist, composer and head of jazz studies at Massey University - has assembled a highly competent and compact quintet for this pleasing set of original tracks recorded both live and in the studio. The CL Bob rhythm section of Tim Jaray (bass) and Steve Cournane (drums) is joined by Nick van Dijk (trumpet and trombone) and Lucien Johnson (saxophone and flute), and each approaches Meehan's compositions with the kind of restrained assurance needed to establish a mood of cool sophistication.

The best example of Meehan's ability to create down-filled duvets of sound comes on Good Friday, where Johnson's sax breathes huskily over the down-tempo skeletal frame established by Meehan's Piano and a rhythm section obviously comfortable and familiar.
Cournane (hasn't he come a long way since pounding the skins for Dunedin alt-rock legends the Alpaca Brothers, among others in the '80s) contributes the highest to this mellow mood with his composition The Desert and the Parched Land, which introduces Latin rhythms and a more snappy dialogue between the horns.

Things return to a more Miles-like vein with van Dijk's soft trumpet featuring in Mo'Scocious, though Meehan's short interlude is tantalising - this band leader should perhaps be prepared to spend more time in the spotlight.

The title track, which gives Jaray his turn to shine and where Johnson casts a distinctively Eastern spell with his flute, closes a short but satisfying album of quality New Zealand jazz.
Jeff Harford