The F-IRE collective represents some of the London jazz scene’s most energetic and imaginative young musicians, and it’s the imaginative aspect that features strongly on its latest release. Led by guitarist and composer Jonny Phillips, Oriole is a nonet, including cello, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet and keyboards, with influences straddling tango, choro, Erik Satie, African rhythms and the melodic end of art rock. Indeed, the gorgeous Remedius could have been written for Robert Wyatt. Julia Biel, however, handles its aching, wordless contours beautifully and her contrite ecology song, Deep Snow, is beguiling. Elsewhere, the instrumentalists, underpinned by Aberdonian Seb Rochford’s superbly fluent drumming, combine to make creative, compact and affectingly understated music.
