THE GUARDIAN
Friday August 3, 2007
Paul Towndrow - Six By Six
John Fordham

Paul Towndrow is a young Scottish saxophonist, a protege of Tommy Smith; the Montreux festival marked him out as a rising young player. Six By Six is a hustling, sharply accented, horn-packed postbop set, with the players edgily inclined to push the envelope. Towndrow’s slippery, free-jazz-influenced sax intonation contributes powerfully to this atmosphere, as does that formidable pianist Steve Hamilton and the explosive rhythm partnership of bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Alyn Cosker.

There are stormy Coltranesque pedal-note laments over wild drum tirades (such as the anthemic Earth Scene Part One), tender romantic reveries (with Tom MacNiven’s soft trumpet sound enriching them) and riffy skeletal themes designed to be filled out by Cosker’s remarkable drumming. Towndrow displays some attractively quirky, rather Dirty Dozen-like writing on the funk theme Crook Sludge, and in Across the Universe, a free-associative warmth suggestive of a Django Bates or Iain Ballamy melody. The presence of fellow Scottish-scene reedsman Konrad Wiszniewski adds to the general sense of creative animation.



JAZZWISE
Paul Towndrow
Six By Six
****

Towndrow’s debut for FMR, Colours, was a fine album though its shortcomings were also obvious. Six By Six, however, is the album, one just knew, Towndrow had in him. Everything about it - playing, writing, arrangements - is just right. There is a depth and integrity to this record that is quite remarkable. Towndrow knows his players well and writes with them in mind. This is evident on tracks like ’Protective Memory’ where he sets the flugelhorn of MacNiven and tenor of Wiszniewski just beautifully. There’s also a fabulous arrangemt of The Beatles’ ’Across The Universe’ which provides the perfect setting for Towndrow’s soprano. Elsewhere, the sound the group achieves on ’Crook Sludge’ is amazing - here and elsewhere they sound like a much larger ensemble. Towndrow’s own playing, like on the opening ’Big Hitter’, is fluid and full of ideas but at the same time there’s a pleasing economy of style. As for Hamilton, Cosker and Janisch, this is a rhythm section rich in intelligence and yet muscular and virile as well. It’s groups like this that make one so optimistic for the future of jazz.

Duncan Heining




JAZZ UK
October/November 07
Pete Martin

From the heat and light generated by this sextet, you’d never guess it recorded this set in the depths of a Scottish winter, powered only by an emergency generator. Out of it came an album which oozes fiery intensity from first to last. On the opening ’Big Hitter’, Towndrow’s alto saxophone solo bursts with energy and the sort of passion that reminds you of Eric Dolphy at his peak. In tenorist Konrad Wiszniewski, Towndrow has found an ideal foil - a player who shares his musical perspective, but one who can take it in different directions. There are gentle pieces too, with ’Protective Memory’ (a fine piece of writing by the leader) spotlighting both Tom MacNiven’s pensive flugelhorn and Wiszniewski’s tough but tender saxophone. The formidable team of Steve Hamilton (piano), Michael Janisch (bass) and drummer Alyn Cosker ensures tightness and guarantees that the energy level never drops.





THE SCOTSMAN - Kenny Mathieson
PAUL TOWNDROW SEXTET: SIX BY SIX ****

ALTO saxophonist Paul Towndrow’s sleeve note explains in amusing fashion the dilemma his excellent new sextet faced in recording this disc using a petrol-driven generator when the recording studio’s power went down. There is little suggestion in the music that the band were working in difficult conditions under severe time pressure, except perhaps a distinctly spontaneous feel that is a positive bonus, and might have been lost in more relaxed conditions. Despite the title, there are actually eight tracks, since one of his six new compositions for sextet is split into two parts. The other "extra" is a quartet version of The Beatles’ Across the Universe, a staple of their live set that he has not recorded before. Both writing and playing are top quality. Trumpeter Tom MacNiven and tenor saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski add muscle and invention to the horn line-up, while Alyn Cosker is a galvanising force on drums.



THE LIST
Published in issue 578 of The List (20 June 2007)

Paul Towndrow
Six By Six
****

Alto saxophonist Paul Towndrow and his new Sextet recorded this album in adverse circumstances, but there is nothing here that would give away the fact that it was made under unusual time constraints. Towndrow’s brand of inventive contemporary jazz offers plenty of variety in the writing and arranging, and the music has a nicely spontaneous feel that might not have emerged in less fraught circumstances.

Trumpeter Tom McNiven and tenor saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski add power and invention to Towndrow’s excellent quartet. His six new compositions for the sextet take in bristling hard bop on ’Dr Jones Will Never Believe This’ and ’Big Hitter’, a funky workout on ’Crook Sludge’, and the Ornette Coleman-inspired melodic tangle of ’Earth Scenes, Parts 1 & 2’. ’Rostov’ is a mid-tempo workout, and ’Protective Memory’ an elegant ballad. A quartet version of The Beatles’ ’Across the Universe’ completes an excellent disc.




24DASH.COM
07/08/2007 Review by Ian Mann

This new release from the young Scottish alto saxophonist appears on his own Keywork label and shows him building on the successes of the critically acclaimed albums "Colours" and "Out Of Town". He has also appeared and recorded with the sparky all Scottish saxophone quartet Brass Jaw. This time Towndrow has expanded his band from a quartet to a sextet. The title alludes to the fact that the album was recorded in a mere six hours in particularly difficult circumstances. A power cut meant that the studio had to be powered by a petrol driven emergency generator but listening to the music one would never have guessed. Towndrow makes reference to the incident in his (pardon the pun) illuminating liner notes. Pianist Steve Hamilton, bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Alyn Cosker remain from Towndrow’s quartet and all appeared on "Out Of Town". They are joined here by tenor saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski and by Tom MacNiven on trumpet and flugel.
The music is mainly the kind of bustling, energetic post bop that characterised "Out Of Town" but the expanded instrumental palette up gives Towndrow the opportunity to stretch his wings even further as a composer.
The opening track "Big Hitter" sets off at a cracking pace with racing horn lines and a furious rhythm courtesy of Hamilton (who also solos effectively), Janisch and the dynamic Cosker. Cosker’s incendiary drumming is a feature of this track and the album as a whole. He is a spectacular player and is very much in demand.
Dense and rolling, "Earth Scene (Part 1)" owes something in compositional style to John Coltrane, with Cosker impressing in the Elvin Jones role.
"Dr Jones Will Never Believe This" is another high-octane work out with Wisniewski soloing in impassioned manner followed by Hamilton. The irrepressible Cosker enjoys some explosive drum breaks.
"Protective Memory" brings a welcome change of pace. This slow burning ballad features the warm, rounded tones of MacNiven on both trumpet and flugel, plus the rich sound of Janisch on arco bass.
"Rostov" is a dedication to the twinning of Glasgow with the Russian city of Rostov On Don. As a composition "Rostov" is ambitious in it’s scope, combining drama with lyricism to impart a real cinematic quality. Solo highlights include Hamilton’s flowing piano and the leader’s probing alto but there is also some fine ensemble writing and playing.
"Crook Sludge" is an engaging funk tinged item with robust soloing from the horns above the insistent rhythms. MacNiven’s slurred notes add a touch of the blues and Janisch’s bass also comes to the fore.
Towndrow’s adaptation of Lennon and McCartney’s "Across The Universe" works surprisingly well. His treatment of the theme maintains the spirit and atmosphere of the original and bookends the more exploratory central section in which Hamilton’s piano is prominent.
The welling and dramatic "Earth Scene Part 2" closes the album, an intriguing blend of free jazz tendencies with anthemic writing.
Towndrow is a remarkably gifted player with chops to burn and he has surrounded himself with similarly talented colleagues. He continues to mature as a writer contributing all the material here with the obvious exception of the Beatles item. Once again Paul Towndrow has delivered an excellent album that demonstrates the continuing strength of the Scottish jazz scene.
The Paul Towndrow Quartet is set to play on the stroller programme at Brecon Jazz Festival on Saturday August 11th 2007.


Musicweb International
Tony Augarde

According to Paul Towndrow’s sleeve-note, this album was recorded with the help of a borrowed generator in six hours during a power cut. But this band could generate enough power to keep the National Grid running for days. Towndrow is a young Scottish saxophonist whose previous album, Out of Town, consolidated his position as a dynamic and exciting musician. Paul wrote all but one of the tunes on this album. Most of his compositions aren’t the sort of thing you’ll whistle on your way to work: it’s the energy and commitment of his band that strikes you most.
The only non-original on the CD, the Beatles’ Across the Universe, is readily recognisable but played in a style that recalls the freedom of John Coltrane, with Paul’s saxophone swirling around, above an equally mobile backing provided by the rhythm section. Things calm down for Steve Hamilton’s lyrical piano solo. Steve’s playing on this album is one of its major attractions, as is the unstoppable drumming of the extraordinary Alyn Cosker.
Paul Towndrow admits to the influence of fellow Scots saxist Tommy Smith but Paul is seldom as laid-back as Tommy can be. With Alyn Cosker’s seemingly tireless drums keeping the temperature high, most tracks are extrovert and forceful. Protective Memory offers the one gentler moment with a ballad featuring Tom MacNiven’s poignant trumpet (or flugelhorn) and Michael Janisch’s expressive double bass. Crook Sludge is distinguished by its rhythm, which is the sort of thing you might hear from a New Orleans marching band (or even Wynton Marsalis’s representation of the same). This and Across the Universe are the most accessible tracks on the album, because of the familiar reference points. But every track captures the listener through daring and imagination. Paul Towndrow is going to be big, and deservedly so.

FINANCIAL TIMES
27/10/07
Mike Hobart

Six By Six - Keywork

Percussively sharp and technically focused alto saxophonist Towndrow is a key player in a renascent Scottish jazz milieu. Here, he uses a skintight, three-horn front line to deliver seven well paced originals as well as a Lennon/McCartney upgrade. Full of no-nonsense virtuosity and tricky beats, the album has the rhythmic drive and melodic purpose of good live acoustic jazz - perhaps the fact that it was recorded in six fraught hours during a mid-winter power cut added to the tension.


THE NORTHERN ECHO
December 27, 2007
By Peter Bevan

Paul Towndrow/Six by Six (Keywork Records KWR008) From the opening track this music jumps out at you, it’s so fresh and invigorating.
The saxophonist’s usual quartet with Steve Hamilton, Mike Janisch and Alyn Cosker is augmented with Konrad Wiszniewski on tenor sax and Tom McNiven on trumpet. It’s all new music but in the spirit of the Jazz Messengers or the Adderley Brothers.