Jasper Høiby’s 3Elements – Howard Assembly Room, Leeds

Jasper Høiby, Danish-born, but now working out of London, is widely acclaimed as an outstanding bassist and this was proved to be undoubtedly the case when he bought his piano trio, 3Elements, to the Howard Assembly Room as part of Opera North’s expansive programme. Unfortunately the accessibility of his music did not quite match up to the technical brilliance, not only of Høiby, but of his truly international group: pianist Chaerin Im from South Korea and Dutch drummer Jamie Peet.

His apparent disregard for his compositions as separate entities showed in his non-announcement of the first three numbers: at this stage Høiby introduced What It Means to be Human with an impassioned defence of Palestine and, in fact, that number proved to have a more memorable melody line. Overall tunes were not the order of the day. Instead numbers were built around rhythmic patterns or the trio followed different lines, interlocking cleverly, or a repeated phrase on piano was echoed on bass. The lead switched around among the musicians, Høiby often taking the lead, laying down a rhythm as well as carrying what passed for a melody.

This is not to say that there wasn’t plenty to enjoy. Jamie Peet is a dramatic drummer, full of contrasts, as in one number where he began by using his hands and eventually exploded into thrilling life. Chaerin Im started the whole evening off with some minutes of solo classical piano, but definitely warmed up as the evening progressed, though the piano was too often muffled in the mix of bass and drums. Høiby, equally adept on bowed bass, anchored the whole performance.

The lack of melodic content in Høiby’s set was highlighted by a quirky half hour set by Conservatoire students Issey Chivers (voice), Harvey Parkin-Christie (tenor sax) and Chris Williams (bass). With one exception every number was a beautiful standard of the 1920s or 1930s. Chivers and co. found their originality in unusual arrangements. For example the opener began with what sounded like a Jewish lament before morphing into The Man I Love.

Chivers is not yet the finished article (her approach to scat is somewhat mannered and over-prepared, for instance), but she managed a lovely Someone to Watch Over Me (verse and all) to finish with. Parkin-Christie echoed her voice nicely and soloed smartly, and Williams proved to be the first exceptional bassist of the evening, even if the solitary instrumental (faintly Jewish again) was less enthralling, certainly from Parkin-Christie.

Reviewed on 11th October 2024