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About Thrum

James Muller Quartet, Thrum
By John Shand
April 27 2002

JAMES MULLER QUARTET
Thrum
(ABC Jazz)

Few people have lit up the Sydney music scene so brightly and in such a short time as James Muller. The stream of awards and plaudits might have induced inertia in a lesser artist. Yet this, Muller's second album, is a startling step up from the ARIA-winning All Out in terms of compositions, playing and production.

The first thing you notice is the warmth of the sound. Brett Hirst's double bass spreads out like a thick-pile carpet beneath the rest of the instruments. Simon Barker's cymbals never clang - they swish and sing with vibrancy and clarity - and his drums don't usurp the foreground. If the larger-than-life, room-filling splendour of Roger Manins's tenor saxophone is not fully captured, its bruising, beautiful tonal quality certainly is. And then there is the leader's guitar, with its razor-sharp edge and translucent centre.

Like Muller's career, the album opens in Adelaide, accurately depicted as a haven of sleepy elegance with occasional sparks of excitement. The jostling Master contains a guitar solo that gives the impression of what it must be like to fly through a meteor storm, before Manins's saxophone comes boiling to life. The latter's playing on the twilight serenity of Happy Camper is a contrasting cry of lonely joy.

The playfulness of All Join Hands suits Barker's propensity to find wonderfully eclectic solutions to rhythmic puzzles. He lays trip-wires across the pulse, which are camouflaged by Hirst and hurdled over by Muller as he takes off on some extraordinary flights. Both Hirst and Barker have some earthier comments to make before the game is over.

Having been seduced by the concert performance of the mesmerising pattern of Green Eyes, it was pleasing to find the recorded version does it ample justice. The saxophone sings rapturous praise over insistent bass and drums, while Muller's own perspective is lighter and prettier, his guitar shimmering with warmth.

On Play With This the musicians collectively pull out the stops. Muller and Manins blaze a trail that Hirst widens into a freeway. Hume is a peaceful stopover before Paul Bley, a homage to the great pianist and innovator, with Barker snapping at the heels of the wailing saxophone and snarling guitar. A must.