Boys>Men

Boys (and men) sometimes get bad press these days. As a father of two boys, now young men, I’ve enjoyed their boisterous and sometimes risky behaviour, their physicality and excitability, their directness and openness, and have been pleasantly surprised watching mothers supporting and understanding their boys. Now our boys are bringing girls into the house, and we much enjoy their different characteristics. And they are so different. I have to accept there’s some truth in the stereotypes, although they are gross generalisations and I remain unsure of the source: socialisation or genetics or a mix of both.

It was in these terms that I heard the Kim Lawson Trio with Steve Hunter and James Hauptmann. This is music that talks to the male experience: boisterous, fabulously energetic, highly skilled, outgoing and partygoing. But it’s also grown up, so the fast and furious is now well formed and informed with mature skills, the relationships are respectful even as the individuality of solos and fills are always ready to explode. I could do little but laugh as these guys went about their extroverted expression. This is jazz fusion, funky grooves, frightening rapidity, unbending application, take-no-prisoners excitement. As a bassist, I watched Steve, of course, with his rock-hard punchy tonality, busy 16-th note syncopation that never ever let off despite chordal colouring and devastating fills that dropped like hail in a storm. Then solos that might settle and search but always stated with extravagant virtuosity. If Steve was the busy midfielder who sets the team in motion, James was the left winger who plays the passes (excuse the soccer analogies, but this is a boys’ review, and it reminds me of my kids’ soccer games, of which there were many). James was busy but discretely grooving and always locked with Steve and his solos oozed with driving rhythms rather than staccato contrasts, although some bell-like tones stood out. Kim led with mostly tenor and occasional alto on heads that were devastating and often in unison with Steve, and solos that were nicely stated with some dissonance but I reckon he needed the power of a PA to exert their presence against Steve’s punch. But I’m a bassist so was all eyes and ears for Steve and was quite overwhelmed.

They played originals by Kim and Steve and James and Footprints and Visby by Dale Barlow. There were chops to burn (these guys were cooking) but the underlying structures were pretty straightforward. Think boutique beer rather than vintaged McLaren Vale. What a blast! Kim Lawson (tenor, alto saxes) led a trio with Steve Hunter (electric bass) and James Hauptmann (drums).