Evidential by Mike Hobart Quintet

A swaggering fusion of modern jazz swing, streetwise funk and killer beats.

“Hobart’s Quintet has all the funky oomph of bands like Led Bib and Get the Blessing whilst fully encompassing the old-school jazz virtues of melodic and harmonic development which those otherwise admirable bands tend to forego. Hobart’s crew shifts between moods and idioms with Mingusian ease …excellent compositions and exciting improvisations…” – Barry Witherden, Jazz Journal / Wire

“…fresh with surprises: the romantic melody of “Rosie”, or “Maces Paces” toying with a Maceo Parker riff before Adrian Reid’s keyboards move towards Head Hunters-era Herbie Hancock. Reid’s electric piano at the start of “Victory to the Underdog” provides the base for a wondrous extended dialogue between Lee and Hobart.” – David Honigmann, Financial Times

“meaty, beaty, big and bouncy” – Jez Nelson

“an intense distillation of the music they call jazz. Big music played with a passionate cool”. “The highlight of the night was Hobart’s composition ‘The Vista’. Hobart’s gruff tenor sax sound whipped the 12/8 groove into a storm” – Andy Robson & Jonathan Carvell, Jazzwise

“superb” – Chris Phillips

“Hobart himself plays a thrilling, sometimes raw-sounding sax, controlled and lyrical where needed, at others wild and echoing shades of R&B as he drives into the edges of the avant-garde” – John Harvey, Straight No Chaser

“awesome stuff” – Orphy Robinson

“Thirty years ago this might have been called acid jazz, and thirty years before that hard bop. But it doesn’t matter what you call it – the quality of the music is evidential.” – London Jazz News

Mike Hobart is a soulful saxophonist who has played with Esther Phillips and Maceo Parker. Self-taught with help from Evan Parker, his first inspirations were the flowing freedoms of Miles Davis’ 1960s quintet and the soul-soaked blues of Ray Charles, but a lot has happened since then. Evidential puts it all together, adds new beats and keeps it swinging hard.

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