Folk Bands and Artists
Brian Molley & Tom Gibbs
Glasgow
When saxophonist Brian Molley released his first album, Clock, in 2013 it was a work that the Glasgow-based musician had been slowly and quietly building up to for a decade or more - and press and media reaction acknowledged this.
BBC Radio 3 enthused about a “A well-crafted and classy debut. The authoritative All About Jazz website noted that “Molley’s tenor tone is gorgeous, warm, full and emotive...he never wastes a note“ and Jazzwise magazine granted Molley one of its “one to watch“ slots for 2014.
Accompanying Molley on that album, and on its three successors and subsequent international tours, pianist Tom Gibbs is the saxophonist’s ideal partner in music. A deeply resourceful musician who compliments Molley’s improvisations with something akin to second sight, Gibbs is also a creative force whose own improvising stands out for its melodic coherence and consistently compelling narratives.
Molley has lived up to his Jazzwise accolade, being selected as part of the Made in the UK “cream of British jazz” representation at Rochester Jazz Festival in New York in 2015 and chosen to lead the British Council’s UK/India season at Madras Jazz Festival in 2017, as well as appearing at most of the major jazz festivals closer to home.
His tenor tone is indeed gorgeous, warm, full and emotive. His solos certainly never waste a note and in tandem with Gibbs he plays spontaneously with Stan Getz-like gracefulness and a Dexter Gordon-inspired directness imbued by his own distinctive personality. His latest album, Intercontinental, released in June and featuring Gibbs, has received five-star reviews and international approval.
This really is a duo not to miss.
