Seb
Rochford (drums) / Pete Wareham (tenor
saxophone) / Mark Lockheart (tenor saxophone) /
Tom Herbert (bass) / Leafcutter John (mandolin
and electronics)
"Polar
Bear reflects the mega-eclectic, post-modern
listening tastes of Rochford (who writes all the
tunes) and his colleagues, moving with equal
enthusiasm through Björk and Beethoven, Pig
Destroyer, Coltrane and his tenor legacy, Monk,
Stockhausen and the ghost of Rip Rig &
Panic." - Allaboutjazz
It is jazz all
right, 100% and no mistake, but with bongfuls of
left-field electronica and mutant, rocked-up and
pfunkified groove spicing the free-improv
centred mix. There's not a lot of concern with
harmonic development—hey, the band is
led by a drummer - but for aberrant and
off-centre rhythmic and melodic development
you've hit the muthalode.
Most excitingly
perhaps, Polar Bear has reclaimed the
in-the-moment, radical, "out" attitude
that jazz pretty much invented, back in the day,
and then has progressively lost, at least in
some strands, as it has become an increasingly
repertory-bound, cautious, and conservative
music. Their music explodes with passion and
exuberance, a hunger for risk and adventure, and
full-on and revelling-in-it spontaneity.
With Polar
Bear, Rochford—who with Pete Wareham and Tom
Herbert also appears in that other great London zeitgeist
band, Acoustic Ladyland—says: "My main
aim is to make music that sounds new and has
feeling." Polar Bear has done both things,
and shown the way to a brighter future at the
same time. They deserve an award for joyful
outness from start to finish.
