Now the first thing to note about this quartet of Jack Hues (guitar), Sam Bailey (Piano, Fender Rhodes), Tom Mason (double bass) and Dave Smith (drums) is that they are joined by Paul Booth (saxophone) and Duncan MacKay on trumpet.

The other thing to note is that Hues and producer Chris Hughes have had success in previous musical groups this is a new project altogether. Also, we know Joel Reeves is a fan of Tom Mason’s work with Robert Mitchell’s Panecea (as are we) and we know he’s a sometime musical partner of Jack Cheshire. Now if your into other groups Paul Booth has played in, notably Tim Garland’s Northern Underground and (with drummer Dave Smith) in Arnie Somogyi’s Ambulance, you’ll also be into this album.

Lastly, this is an ambious album as it consists of a six part opus ‘Canterbury Tales’ that’s no doubt based on Geoffrey Chaucher’s 630 page book of 1855. However, Hues has written all the track on this album (apart from ‘The Check-Out Girl’s Tale’) and it is as heavy/hard to get to grips with as Chaucer’s tome. Not in a totally Shattering sense but more of whether the ‘Canterbury Tales’ half of the album matches the other six tracks or vice versa.

On ‘Canterbury Tales’ there’s a strange combination of the atmospheric lighter moments and progy King Crimson-ish guitar and piano led moments, whilst the ‘electronic’ tracks are not as ‘experimental’ as you might have hoped/thought. ‘The Chav’s Tale’ and ‘The Check-Out Girl’s Tale’ are the stand-out elements of the piece for me.

At the moment the jazzer second half of the album is getting more attention like ‘Tokyo Angelic’ and ‘Plains Rising’. I love Mingus influenced ‘Dark Moon Part 1’; an atmospheric mood piece introduction to, (surprise, surprise) ‘Dark Moon Part 2. By now the horns and the band are in full 60s jazz club de Blue Note mode; Tom and Sam have got the beat!

The last track ‘Lights Out’ is a study of Miles (Davis) as the group stretch out the track to nearly 10 minutes.

This is a fine album in the traditions other bands from Cantebury (Soft Machine, Caravan and Egg) and the locals should be looking out for them at their forthcoming gigs (see listing below).

Upcoming Gigs
13 Jul 2008 - Lounge on the Farm Festival - The Further Tent, Cantebury, Kent
28 Jul 2008 - Orange Stret Music Club Cantebury
30 Jul 2008 - The Vortex Jazz Club, London

Reviewed: The-Quartet - Shattering (Helium Records) Cat. No. HeCD004 Release date: June 2008
Tracklisting:
Canterbury Tales
a Prologue (2:04)
b The Chav’s Tale (2:50)
c The Check-Out Girl’s Tale (4:20)
d The Deacon’s Tale (1:34)
e The Wife Of The Councillor’s Tale (1:35)
f Canterbury Bells, Saturday 5.20pm (1:30)
7 Tokyo Angelic (5:30)
8 Plains Rising (7:06)
9 Dark Moon Part 1 (2:56)
10 Dark Moon Part 2 (6:49)
11 Lights Out (9:40)

Links
www.the-quartet.co.uk
www.myspace.com/thequartetband
www.heliumrecords.co.uk
www.online-literature.com/chaucer