Pete Churchill

Pete Churchill Trio with Bobby Wellins
' The Bad and the Beautiful '

PETE CHURCHILL - piano/vocals
BOBBY WELLINS - tenor saxophone
STEVE WATTS - double bass
DAVE WICKINS - drums

1) Nancy with the laughing face, 2) Spring will be a little late this year, 3) Nice 'n' easy, 4) I've made up my mind,
5) I keep going back to Joe's - Learning the Blues, 6) The morning after, 7) Lucky so and so, 8) I've got it bad and that aint good, 9) Let's get lost, 10) Ocean, 11 Theme from "The Bad and the Beautiful"

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Reviews of "The Bad and the Beautiful"

The Bad And The Beautiful - 33 JAZZ RECORDS

By Chris May - All About Jazz website

Vocalists get a mixed press reaction in the jazz world. Most of us probably enjoy Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway's well-charged, hipster encoded genius, and Billie Holiday's survivor vibe pulls in almost as big a crowd. But from there on in there are two, seemingly irreconcilable tribes: one which loves vocalists, another which loathes and despises them. The divide has probably been made wider by the current crop of over-produced jazz-lite twenty-somethings, marketed by the majors as saviours of the great American songbook. Easy on the eye and full of enthusiasm they may be, but most of these artists are simply too young and too callow to carry the material with any real conviction.

Songs by the likes of Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Loesser and Harold Arlen--three of the classic songbook composers featured on this album--tend to have more sophisticated, slower burning lyrics than the “I want to fuck your brains out” message at the root of today's chart oeuvre, and a twenty-something is unlikely to have lived enough life to get inside them. But it's not all easy listening dreck out there. This swinging, musicianly and refreshingly under-produced album by British pianist/vocalist Pete Churchill deserves to make some converts.

A sort of grown-up Jamie Cullum, Churchill has a warm, rough-edged, lived-in voice which brings added resonance to the lyrics. He's also a lyrical and unusually responsive accompanist--Mark Murphy's pianist of choice whenever the American is working in the UK. Churchill is accompanied here by his regular colleagues Steve Watts and Dave Wickins, a rock solid team--and the great tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins guests beautifully on half the tracks. It's a simple and spontaneous affair, and all the better for it. “Good songs don't need to be diluted, revamped or arranged to death,” says Churchill, “they will sing themselves if you let them.”

The Bad And The Beautiful was actually recorded in autumn of '01, after Churchill's partner Nikki Iles--another seriously good British jazz pianist--booked the studio as a surprise fortieth birthday present for Churchill. A better slice of post-prandial Christmas listening is hard to imagine. And if Churchill doesn't mind shaving his legs, slipping into a dress and a blonde wig and raising his voice a couple of octaves he could make some real money!

PETE CHURCHILL/BOBBY WELLINS

The Bad and the Beautiful

33Jazz107

Pianist Pete Churchill, Mark Murphy’s favourite British accompanist and highly respected guru of so many London musical situations, finally steps out front with his own thing. For me, this is the most exciting vocal album since David Tugham’s Just in Time last year.

What’s to like? First, Churchill’s voice - warm, with a casual, lived-in feel, slightly lazy and laid back. I’ll bet he likes Hoagy and Mose; but he doesn’t try to sound like them. Second, he’s a marvellous piano player without seeming to have supersonic chops - so much meaning lies in the placing of the chords behind his vocal lines. Third, an absolutely stunning rhythm pairing of Steve Watts (bass) and Dave Wickens (drums) who, together with the leader, provide the perfect platform for the great Bobby Wellins performing at the peak of his powers. Just check Wellins’ unique cry as he enters on ‘Going Back To Joe’s’ and then the sheer swing of his playing over Wickens’s subtle shuffle after it segues into ‘Learning The Blues’, with Watt’s walking bass line locking the whole thing together. Catch the cheeky back beat groove on Ellington’s ‘Lucky So and So’ as well, it makes you want to grin like a fool.

Churchill writes good songs. ‘I’ve Made Up My Mind’ is a jazzy waltz, and the lovely ballad ‘Ocean’ once again brings out the best in Wellins. They even take on ‘Nice ‘N Easy’, redolent of the ‘60s sub-Sinatra club scene, and win. Now, that really takes some doing.

JAZZ UK (Brian Blane)

PETE CHURCHILL

The Bad and the Beautiful

(33 Records 33Jazz 107)

After years as an accompanist to singers - notably Mark Murphy - Pete Churchill comes up with a vocal album of his own, and a lovely piece of work it is. His voice is gentle, his interpretation plain but thoughtful and his piano playing beautifully poised. In the notes he implies that it has taken him twenty years to get to this point, and the lucid simplicity he brings to songs 'Nice And Easy' and 'Nancy With The Laughing Face' certainly sounds like the fruit of maturity.

These songs, he says, 'will sing themselves if you let them', but that's easier said than done. The inimitable tenor saxophone of Bobby Wellins, at once worldly and ethereal, brings further illumination, while bassist Steve Watts and drummer Dave Wickins provide the gentlest of support.

Dave Gelly, OBSERVER Sunday October 10, 2004

PETE CHURCHILL

"The Bad and the Beautiful" 33 Records 33Jazz107 (60:48)

I've been looking out for this CD for a couple of years, and it was well overdue then. Whenever the chance to sing with this superlative accompaniment comes up, its a total treat; ditto hearing him back many others. At the time of writing he's giving invaluable support to Mark Murphy, as he has for ten years now. And there have always been instances of his own high-calibre vocals. Now the album is out, and it fulfils expectations one hundred percent.

A relaxing day in an East Sussex studio evidently did the trick. Pete selected three ultra-reliable friends to help him make 11 tracks happen - drummer Dave Wickins, bassist Steve Watts and that most distinctive of British tenormen, Bobby Wellins. Its good to see Bobby getting some well-deserved exposure these days.

The warm sound, good diction and attractive style of the Churchill voice greets the ear at once with Nancy, then Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year, and the Wellins contributions are exquisite. In a sense I'm glad that Bobby doesn't play on Pete's vigourous interpretation of Nice 'n' Easy, replete with fine piano grooving, since I cherish the inspiration of his sensuous version with Mr Tracey. The first of Pete's two original songs, I've Made Up My Mind, with its positive literate sentiments, prompts two prime thoughts: this must be one of the longest verses ever; and Pete manages to sound more English on his own material than on other people's - which is okay by me. After a lively extended medley of I Keep Going Back To Joe's and Learning The Blues, containing wonderful Wellins wailing, Pete performs an 'unknown' Harold Arlen ballad, The Morning After - one of the last he wrote. I well remember Pete doing this one live, solo, and here he duplicates the expressive delivery of the evovative lyrics, the strolling piano interlude and the powerful ending. definitely one to learn.

The only possible criticism I can level at this welcome collection is that there is only one instance of visiting a funk-type workout upon a well-known standard. Duke's Just A Lucky So-And-So is the worthy recipient, and I love all the audacious phraseology, the boisterous bass and piano solos, the demonic drumming, right down to a very nice protracted ending. By contrast, another Ellington standby gets its due respect, but I don't mind that he sings it as I've Got It Bad. Good grammar never hurts.

Wholeheartedly recommended as a strong sample of singer/pianism at its most intelligent.

LES TOMKINS - The Jazz Rag - Autumn 2004