Pianist Jonathan Gee is clearly in love with his own music. As he beavers away at the keyboard, face contorted into a grimace of ecstasy, his band rally round him with a combination of gentle intelligence and blissed-out fervour.
Touring to promote his new album, recorded live at Ronnie Scott's, Gee has surrounded himself with stellar talent, including Courtney Pine's former drummer Winston Clifford, and ex-Loose Tubes sax man Tim Whitehead. Gee has found his soulmate in Clifford: the powerful-looking percussionist has an understated delicacy that perfectly propels these thoughtful and finely wrought compositions. He effortlessly throws subtle samba grooves into the stew, plays his solos with the tips of his fingers and occasionally sings along in a quietly keening falsetto.
Meanwhile, Whitehead confidently navigates the emotional labyrinth of Gee's musical creations, blowing from side to side with his eyes closed, set afloat by the swinging buoyancy of Steve Rose's bass.
Gee's compositions are unfailingly melodic, packed with riffs, motifs and tune fragments that could all form the basis for some attractive and inventive pop songs. As a pianist he evokes the spirits of Herbie Hancock, Claude Debussy and Bill Evans, carefully balancing a light-footed funkiness with a sensuous enjoyment of colour and dynamics. Even when he is tempted to play a million notes per second the effect is curiously meditative, and the rhythmic unpredictability of his playing never interferes with the groove.
The group are at their most powerful when playing incredibly softly, tiptoeing through an intricate series of stops and starts, carefully making their mark in space with a quietly glowing intensity. At one point they evoke the softly shimmering melancholia of times gone by so effectively that they stand stock still with expressions of regret on their faces, as if contemplating all that they have ever loved and lost.
In many ways it's a shame that Gee chooses to work in such a traditional jazz quartet format. His music is endlessly inventive, harmonically and rhythmically, and although it is being played by superb musicians you can imagine it arranged for a more unusual line-up. Could he not perhaps take a leaf from Django Bates's book and hire a string quartet, a couple of samplers and a beautiful female vocalist? He would get a bigger audience.
