Edinburgh Jazz Festival: Strata

Drummer Graham Costello wasn’t letting on whether the hour-and-a-halflong epic his Strata quintet, expanded by a string quartet, unleashed on Saturday referenced that Moon landing anniversary – he didn’t even give us a title. Certainly, however, it had its big, spacy moments, and not just due to Teviot Row’s starry back curtain.

Strata, a notable emergence from Glasgow’s current hotbed of young jazz talent, opened with characteristic piano ringing from Fergus Mccreadie, string murmurs and an increasingly rumbling drone from bassist Mark Hendry, which developed into a riverine flow of minimalist riffing and pulsing which could work up quite a groove.

The string quartet’s variously lush, austere or dramatically astringent responses sounded effective rejoinders to the onwardly churning fusion band.

Harry Weir’s sax occasionally erupted raucously over Costello’s drum interjections or elsewhere simply provided a mellow reed bridge, adding to the sonic backdrop, while, as well as maintaining propulsion, Mccreadie delivered some glittering keyboard excursions. A guitar break from Joe Williamson, meanwhile, proved not so much a solo as an echoing cosmic evocation (Pink Floyd did come to mind, as did Mike Oldfield, echoes of way before these players’ time).

The overall effect was hypnotic, although one occasionally wondered when and how it would all end. It did, following a powerful, bolero-like climax, a measured drum solo from Costello, a screaming sax outburst from Weir and yawing strings before things subsided to a final sigh of cymbals and a heady audience response.

JIM GILCHRIST