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Rick Simpson Everything All Of The Time: by Robin Kidson |
In 2000, rock band Radiohead released their fourth album. It was called Kid A and it won wide (though not universal) public and critical acclaim. Now, on its twentieth anniversary, Kid A has had a makeover courtesy of London-based pianist and composer, Rick Simpson. The results are on Simpson’s new album, Everything All Of The Time: Kid A Revisited, recently released on Whirlwind.
Kid A was something of a departure for Radiohead whose previous work had been in an intellectual rock tradition. The new album continued the intellectual adventurousness but moved beyond rock to embrace a whole new range of influences including electronic and classical music, and jazz. The instrumentation used was similarly diverse with electronic effects generated by synthesisers,
computer software and the ondes Martenot. Brass and strings were also employed.
Radiohead
The final album was cleverly marketed using new streaming and file-sharing services available on the internet. This contributed to Kid A’s considerable commercial success which saw it top both the UK and US album charts. It also won wide acclaim from the critics although some inevitably dismissed it as pretentious. However, over time the dissenting voices have been largely silenced and Kid A regularly appears on those lists of “best ever”. In 2020, for example, Rolling Stone had it as Number 20 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
A video of Radiohead performing in France.
Rick Simpson is a big Kid A fan. “My musical interests”, he says, “began with electronic music, then Jazz and then Radiohead. All three were intense love affairs. The sonic landscape of Radiohead, in particular their electronic explorations seemed to meld perfectly with my love for Jazz and the Avant Garde”. It was that love of jazz which took him to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from which he graduated in 2008. In that same year, he won a Yamaha Scholarship Prize for Outstanding Jazz Musicians. Since then, he has been steadily making a name for himself on the London jazz scene and has played with the likes of Christian Scott, Michael Janisch, Jeff Williams and Leo Richardson. He has also led his own ensembles including on Klammer, his 2016 album on the Two Rivers label.
Rick solo playing Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys:
In 2019, Rick did a series of gigs at the Vortex Jazz Club in which he “reimagined” classic non-jazz albums. The purpose was to try and encourage a more diverse audience to the club than the usual hard core jazz fans. “Naturally, Kid A was the first record I thought of”. And so, in February 2019, the Vortex put on an event which began with the audience listening to the original Kid A album followed by Simpson and his band performing his reworkings of the album’s tracks. The event was a sellout success with the objective of attracting a wider audience triumphantly achieved. Other gigs later in the year repeated the process for two further Radiohead albums, In Rainbows and Amnesia.
In January 2020, Simpson took his band into the studio to record his version of Kid A. Everything All Of The Time: Kid A Revisited is the result. Simpson plays piano throughout and is joined by Tori Freestone (tenor saxophone and violin), James Allsop (baritone saxophone), Dave Whitford (double bass) and Will Glaser (drums). The album includes all of the tracks on the original Radiohead album in the same order. The album cover is also similar to the original. The similarities end there, however. For a start, Rick's take is almost completely acoustic – there is little of the electronics which characterised the original. Furthermore, Simpson and his musicians recorded Everything All Of The Time in a single afternoon whereas Radiohead took months. “I think the time pressures contributed to the performances”, Rick says, “It’s really punchy and to the point but a lot happens – it captures the energy so well”.
Simpson has also not stuck too closely to the prototype in terms of the actual music: “I wanted to honour Radiohead’s original whilst rewriting the music to fit my vision as a composer, giving the musicians I chose for this project plenty of space to improvise and bring their unique musical voices to the forefront. For some tunes I wanted to stay close to the source material. For others they are merely referenced and serve as springboards for new composition or improvisation. I think we captured some of the fractured anxiety and beauty of the original”.
Right from the first track, Everything In Its Right Place, it is clear that Rick Simpson’s Kid A interpretations are steeped in the vocabulary of contemporary jazz. The track is a short, sprightly piece whose beat is driven along by the drums and bass. There is some nice interplay between the two horns and Simpson’s solo is full of unexpected twirls and flourishes.
Listen to Everything In Its Right Place.
The title track, Kid A, has a complex tune with a complex but compelling rhythm. James Allsop takes a swinging solo on baritone and gradually, the playing of all the musicians becomes freer and more intense building to a climax of “controlled chaos”, held together by Will Glaser’s superb drumming.
Listen to the track.
On the original Radiohead album, the track The National Anthem featured some striking free jazz from a brass ensemble. Radiohead’s inspiration for this was Charles Mingus’s Town Hall Concert album. The band’s instructions to the brass players were to sound like “a traffic jam…just blow, just blow, just blow”.
Radiohead (plus brass) playing The National Anthem live on a Jools Holland Show for the BBC in 2001.
Rick Simpson’s version reproduces the feel of the original but with the jazz element much more to the fore. Dave Whitford sets up a thrilling bass riff - ”Dave earths the whole thing” says Simpson, “with his beautiful, massive amazing sound”. The whole piece builds up nicely to a free-for-all climax.
On How To Disappear Completely, Tori Freestone plays violin with (I’m assuming) some electronic enhancement so it sounds like a full string orchestra is in the studio. The piece is a lovely, gentle, wistful ballad which gradually builds to a climax but without the free jazz of the previous two tracks. It is probably the least “jazzy” of the tracks on the album but it is a most beautiful piece of music making. For me, it is the stand out track of the whole album.
Listen to How To Disappear Completely.
The horns do not feature on Treefingers which is another quiet piece with Rick playing gentle piano against a wash of drums and cymbals. Optimistic is an upbeat, foot tapping number propelled by Will Glaser’s drumming. Tori Freestone and James Allsop improvise together with the lighter tone of the tenor countering the burbling baritone. In Limbo begins with a short bass solo which gradually picks out a beat against which a delicate and intricate tune develops. Rick Simpson plays some bluesy piano and Tori Freestone takes an absorbing solo which gradually becomes more intense and free: “Tori – she’s so free” says Simpson, “she goes for it and doesn’t hold back, and she never plays any clichés”. That absence of cliché might also apply to the other musicians and, indeed, to the whole album.
Idioteque is taken at quite a lick with Allsop and Freestone taking alternate quick little solos before coming together in a joint free improvisation. The baritone can be a cumbersome beast but in James Allsop’s hands it often takes a surprisingly nimble turn. Morning Bell begins with an absorbing and wonderfully conceived drum solo from Will Glaser. It sounds like the percussion is stuttering, trying the find the right beat, the right words. Gradually, the ghost of a rhythm emerges, but still struggling to articulate itself. Then, suddenly, a thrilling, driving, throbbing beat bursts out, and the other instruments come in. Rick Simpson takes a long, intricate solo utilising his full bow of considerable skills. Once again, there is that characteristic building of tension which is resolved in a sudden full stop.
The final track, Motion Picture Soundtrack, is a slow, contemplative piece. It features James Allsop’s baritone in reflective mood with Tori Freestone’s more skittish tenor dancing around in the background. The piece ends with a long held note on the piano.
There will be some jazz fans out there, particularly those of a certain age, who have barely heard of Radiohead let alone Kid A. But you don’t need that knowledge to understand and appreciate Everything All Of The Time. And jazz buffs can be reassured that it is most definitely a jazz album – scintillating contemporary jazz at its best, played by musicians at the top of their game. It’s another gem to add to Whirlwind’s impressive catalogue.
Click here (Bandcamp) or here (Amazon) for details and samples of the album which was released in October. (Bandcamp initially gives the price in dollars but if you click on 'Buy CD' or 'Buy Digital', you can convert the price to pounds sterling and check the price before you buy).
Click here for Rick Simpson's website.
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