Claudia Quintet. The MAC.

Prior to entering the MAC, I knew nothing of the Claudia Quintet. In fact the only thing that brought me out, alone, on this Sunday evening was promoter by Moving on Music; of who my love affair is well documented.

Going to a show with no preconceptions does make everything a little more exciting. Scanning the instruments laid across the stage, ups that excitement further: drums, bass, vibraphone, clarinet, tenor sax and accordion.

With lights dimmed the Claudia Quartet quietly take to the stage. The lights then come back up and Claudia Quartet take another 5 or so minutes arranging themselves, making the light dimming seem odd and pointless.
Usually when lights are dimmed is to signal that it is about to start, it focuses attention on the stage and build anticipation.

Here though, the lights are up showing the bands equipment, they go out, but there is still enough ambient light to watch the band walk to their instruments, the lights come back up and the band then take another few minutes to settle themselves in for the show. It seems like such an unnecessary act, but perhaps that is just me.

Now, I must confess to writing around the point here a little bit. Filling space. For I was largely unmoved by the Claudia Quintet.

They were not by any means bad, not in the slightest, but for me the most interesting thing was the convention they have adopted for naming their tracks. Composer, band leader and drummer John Hollenbeck explains that in September 2001 he had elected to take time away at an artists retreat in order to write some music. Then the September 11 attacks happened. Since then Hollenbeck has dedicated each September to making music, and carries this tradition through by naming tracks after the dates on which they were composed, with explanatory subtitles. This idea is both touching and understandable. But back to the music.

Claudia Quartet play a more modern, composed type of jazz. I found the tracks to be perfectly pleasant to listen to, if a little constrained. But perhaps this is more a reflection of my personal tastes.

I look to jazz for freedom, for invention, for the throwing off of constraints. That simply isn't the type of group that Claudia Quartet are. As I understand it John Hollenbeck is the composer of the group, which I would presume means he supplies the rest of the players with their parts, and while Hollenbeck is undoubtedly a gifted composer – I stress again that the band were not in any way bad – the group is inherently constrained to what Hollenbeck produces.
Either way, I am glad I made the journey to the show, even if getting home proved difficult due to a sudden and unexpected bomb scare not far from the venue just as the show ended. And I would happily pay to watch Claudia Quartet again because they were perfectly pleasant to listen to.

By Hornby