How many artists, touring in support of only their
second album, have the confidence and ability to
play a set of over two hours in length, including
a sprinkling of unreleased material, which has no
dips, lulls, or wristwatch-checking moments? Step
forward Jonathan Wilson, who, with his superb
band, had the audience in Norwich agog from the
get-go on Monday evening. A lesser band would doubtless have saved material as strong as the
opening salvo of 'Lovestrong', 'Illumination' and
'Fazon' for their encores, but Wilson has considerable strength
in depth, there are few weak-links in his
catalogue. In fact he elected not to play one of
his very best songs, 'Cecil Taylor', at all.
Jonathan Wilson's sound is past-acknowledging and
forward-looking, musically rich and subtly
complex, where time signatures shift and solos go
off at unexpected tangents. Grandstanding is not
his style, but it's quietly intricate, frequently
breathtaking stuff all the same. Touchstones
include everything from CSN&Y (collectively and
individually) to elements of progressive rock, Pink Floyd
in particular. One gets the impression that he is
only just beginning to flex his musical muscles.
Miss him at your peril.
