Compassionate Dictatorship

Cash Cows

Label: FMR Country: UK

"Guitarist Jez Franks and saxophonist Tori Freestone both teach at Leeds College of Music, and their longstanding musical partnership lies at the heart of the vibrant but sophisticated approach of their band, Compassionate Dictatorship, completed on this recording (the band's second) by bassist Jasper Høiby and drummer Ben Reynolds.

Most of the material is by Franks (though there is a co-written Franks/Freestone cut, a piece by Pete Aves and a closing arrangement, by Freestone, of Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now'), and it ranges from hard-edged, bustling compositions such as the opener, 'Mushroom Effect' and the driving 'Mr Mish Mash', delivered with a pleasing swagger by both Franks and Freestone, underpinned by the rumbustious bass of Høiby and emphatic drumming of Reynolds, to more contemplative pieces featuring Freestone's elegant soprano, and Franks's thoughtful, long-lined soloing.

This area of the music, occupied in the 1990s by Sco/Lo and in the present day by the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Allison and the UK's own Partisans, is extremely hospitable to the particular combination of power and sensitivity encapsulated in the band's name, and Cash Cows, which is at once immediately accessible, with its bright, gutsy sound and brisk, fleet soloing, and subtle enough richly to reward repeated exposure to its eight tracks, should serve as a tasty appetiser to the quartet's unequivocally enjoyable live performances."-Vortex Jazz