New Origins – Live at LIPA

Neil Yates played at LIPA yesterday with his group New Origins.

New Origins is made up of Neil Yates (trumpet/ flugelhorn/low whistles and vocal) Stuart McCallum (guitar), Les Chisnall (piano), Gavin Barras (double bass) Rob Turner (drums/ percussion and vocal) Martin O’Neill (bodhran).

Let me start by saying what a refreshing change this group was. A tight, sensative and unobtrusive rhythm section held the group through thoroughly interesting and enjoyable original charts. The mix of the standard jazz format injected with folk influences gave this group its refreshing sound.

Neil’s style of playing and improvising was cleverly mixed with live sound sampling making it possible for him to play over himself with great effect. This was perhaps only matched by Martin O’Neil on Bodhran who demonstrated the full depths of this instrument at the end of their performance.

For those who don’t know what a Bodhran is you should look it up on the internet and then look into seeing New Origins live to get a grasp of how this unusual instrument is played by a pro.

The set that Neil Yates’ New Origin created for this taster event was very enjoyable and I recommend seeing them live to get a feel for what these guys are about. Talented, relaxed, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable.

So much so I bought their album. (Album Review to follow)