Leah Gough-Cooper

Leah Gough-Cooper’s Human Equivalent – Future Pop

Dumfries-born, Boston-based saxophonist Leah Gough-Cooper’s debut album shares three musicians with drummer Patrick Kunka’s album (reviewed a couple of issues back), and merits equally high praise. While certainly accessible, Gough-Cooper’s intelligently crafted music is way too intense to be a credible future pop, nice though that notion is, but open-minded rock/pop/funk/dance fans may well connect with what is going on here.

The saxophonist’s fluent and inventive work on alto and soprano is supported by responsive and focused ensemble playing and strong soloing from the band, featuring Kunka and pianist Alan Benzie (prominent on Fender Rhodes and electric keyboards as well as piano) alongside guitarist Serghio Jansen and bassist Martin Nessi. George Garzone, a leading figure in the Berklee College faculty, is a special guest on tenor saxophone on ‘Night Surf’.

Kenny Mathieson – The List, 29 March 2010.

Young Scottish saxophonist Leah Gough-Cooper has come a long way since she won an international scholarship to Berklee College of Music aged just 16. Still only 20, 2009 found her releasing her second album and playing at the London Jazz Festival. Supported in Human Equivalent by guitar, bass, keys and drums, Future Pop was recorded in Brooklyn, New York. On such a self-composed set it’s good to hear the other members of such an obviously talented band featuring significantly, although of course the main feature is Leah’s athletic technique on sax. Beware, it’s so dynamic it might scramble your brain if modern jazz is not your cup of tea. – Alan Taylor.

Patrick Kunka, ‘The Edge’, ShredAhead SA001 (three stars)
Patrick Kunka (d), Leah Gough-Cooper (as), Alan Benzie (p) and Dylan Coleman (b). Rec. Feb 2009.

It’s a bit early to be selecting a new-star album of the year, but this may well turn out to be it. Kunka, who hails from that ultra-hip jazz Mecca of Aberdeen, is a drummer and composer of outstanding promise. He and his similarly youthful Scots posse have amassed honours at Berklee and the New England Conservatory and appeared at jazz festivals in France, Switzerland and Panama in recent months. And yet they’re almost unknown here. Prophets without honour in their own homeland, one might say. Though broadly of the Tony Williams school of drumming, Kunka can also contribute to a ballad performance with taste and sensitivity, as on ‘4am’, Coleman’s bass feature here. Equally impressive is the title track, one of those spare up-tempo themes that sound hip yet are easy to play and beg for a strong solo to suit. Altoist Gough-Cooper is the winner here, a stirring discovery of Kenny Garret-like intensity and creativity. Pianist Benzie has the ethos of Hancock and Corea under his fingers and builds a sophisticated solo. Indeed there are no weak links in this astonishing young band. Read Kunka’s webpage, track down a copy of his debut album on jazzcds.co.uk and enjoy. It might be a while before they play a club near you. – Jack Massarik.

http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com

Patrick Kunka Quartet – The Edge (4 stars)

This debut album from Aberdeen-born drummer Patrick Kunka was originally issued last summer, but was rather overlooked at the time. Some positive recent response has encouraged him to re-promote it, and it more than justifies that decision. Kunka is currently based in Boston after studying at Berklee College, and is joined here by American bassist Dylan Coleman and two more of Scotland’s bright young talents (also with Berklee connections), pianist Alan Benzie and saxophonist Leah Gough-Cooper.
They play a bright and exciting brand of contemporary jazz. All nine compositions are the drummer’s own, drawing on American models, but with an edgy, energised feel. They are attractive in themselves, and also provide fine vehicles for the improvisational talents of each of the players to shine through, with Gough-Cooper’s saxophone work – not for the first time – making a particularly strong impression. – Kenny Mathieson

http://www.list.co.uk

Leah Gough-Cooper’s Human Equivalent ‘Future Pop’ (three stars)
Leah Gough-Cooper (as,ss), Serghio Jansen (g), Alan Benzie (p, Rhodes, kys), Martin Nessi (b) and Patrick Kunka (dr)

A Scottish band made up of former Berklee students and young award winning Scottish jazz musicians is fronted by a saxophonist-composer barely out of her teens. This makes the level of musicianship on this CD all the more astonishing. Style-wise it’s largely jazz-rock fusion given a vigorous makeover. Because it’s a sub-genre of jazz in which a very high level of notes and musicianship is essential it’s no surprise it has its devotees in the rehearsal corridors of Berklee – for evidence listen to Hiromi’s band. Yet, Gough-Cooper’s lyrical alto sax seems also to have absorbed M-Base-type odd metered cryptic patterns and some of the impressive drummer’s bustling grooves certainly demonstrate a line through to drum and bass and hip hop. Nevertheless Future Pop – not sure what that’s meant to say about it – inherits more directly from the world of Return to Forever, the keyboard impressionism of Weather Report, with some 1980s Marcus Miller-style funk thrown in. It’s hardly the most original of causes, but the band manages to attain a high quality of musicianship without sacrificing any of their youthful high spirits. Selwyn Harris

http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com

This New Year was a very special one for myself and some of my band members. During the summer, I had been approached by a Taiwanese arts promotion company by the name of CSR-Taiwan at a gig I was playing in at the Edinburgh Festival. They expressed their interest in having some of us over to Taiwan to play at some point in the future. Keeping in contact with them over the next few months thereafter, I was astonished when they asked if it would be possible to bring a band over to Taiwan for the New Year Celebration and the Music Festival they have in the city of Chiayi. <http://www.chiayicity2009.com.tw/en/02/page01.html> I have never been to Asia, and for the longest time it has been a destination I have always wanted to travel to, so I took up the offer and set about getting a group together that would fit their needs.
Human Equivalent is usually a quintet, but because CSR-Taiwan had a quota to stick to, and the festival is basically a wind band festival, I had to bring in a few more musicians in order for them to be able fund the trip. So, after much brainstorming and re-arranging of my music and compositions, I put a prime Berklee/NEC supergroup together:
Serghio Jansen, Guitar (Berklee ‘10), Martin Nessi, Bass (Berklee ‘10), Massimo Buonanno, Drums (Berklee ‘10), Chad ‘Aaron Notes’ Selph, Keyboard and Piano (Berklee ‘11), Arturo Pena, Percussion (Berklee ‘10), Vivek Patel, Trumpet (NEC ‘08) and special guest Kunter Chang, Tenor Saxophone (Berklee ‘01).
After intensive rehearsing in Boston MA, we all headed home for Christmas and then from each of our countries (Scotland, Dominican Republic, Aruba, Columbia, Switzerland & USA), we set off on the long journey to Taiwan on the 28th & 29th December 2009.
None of us really knew what to expect on arrival in Taiwan (none of us had visited Asia before, let alone Taiwan), so there were a few nerves here and there, but – oh boy! – was it ever better than anything we could have expected.

The hospitality of the Taiwanese was beyond amazing, the gigs were massive and the culture was magical. The first night, we played the Chiayi Civil Stadium filled with a crowd of Chiayi’s youth and festival goers; the second night, again in the open air, we played to a huge enthusiastic crowd under a half-dome in Zhong-Cheng Park, one of the city’s bigger parks; and the third night we played in a concert hall, the Culture Division Music Hall.
Every audience was an honor to play to, and CSR-Taiwan and the Chiayi Executive Mayor, Cultural Minister and Mayor were all a pleasure to work with and meet (this includes Felice, Arielle, Chung and two new friends of ours, Vicky and Elly).
On behalf of Human Equivalent:EAST, I would like to thank them all for the wonderful experience we all had, and look forward hopefully to bringing our music to Taiwan and the Far East again in the near future. A full report of the visit will be online soon.

Well, it’s been a while since my last swathe of news updates but, boy, I have a lot to report. From October 4th-13th, Berklee sent the Patrick Kunka Quartet to the Lorraine area of France, to the Nancy Jazz Pulsations Music Festival. We partook in giving workshops, playing gigs almost every night and traveling around the area non-stop for the time we were there. Busy is a bit of an under-rated word for the week, but it was a lot of fun and a good laugh. You can check out more of our goings-on on Berklee’s Tour Blog: http://www.berkleeontour.com/category/france

l. to r. Patrick Kunka, Leah Gough-Cooper, Martin Nessi, Alan Benzie, Serghio Jansen. (photo: Erin Hubay)

l. to r. Serghio Jansen, Martin Nessi, Alan Benzie, Patrick Kunka, Leah Gough-Cooper. (photo: Erin Hubay)

The new album ‘Future Pop’ now available from CD Baby, and as a download from iTunes and Amazon.

Leah Gough-Cooper (sax), Serghio Jansen (electric guitar), Alan Benzie (keys), Patrick Kunka (drums), Martin Nessi (bass)