Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford is the debut album from a five-man group set up by cellist Ben Davis and BBC Jazz Award winner Seb Rochford. Though the band have been playing together for some time, a recorded project has been a long time coming, though luckily it’s worth the wait. Both Davis and Rochford are classically trained, but draw on non-classical compositional styles such as jazz and freeform music. Featuring a slew of original tunes plus several re-interpretations, Basquiat Strings moves slickly through a host of different sounds, from the angular "Double Dares" and the driving "Junk," - both fine examples of both the band’s immaculate playing and Davis’ superb writing skills. The ‘covers’ here are equally penetrative: Wayne Shorter’s "Infant Eyes," Zawinul’s "In a Silent Way" and Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" emerge as virtually new tracks, scattered and embellished with not just jazz and classical references but also folk elements from Macedonia and Hungary. Not one for the jazz or classical purists perhaps, but Basquiat Strings will provide oodles of stimulation for just about everyone else. --Paul Sullivan
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