Recorded at Phoenix Sound, London on September 15th 2006

Engineered by Steve Lowe

Line-up:

Jazz On 3 - a programme that likes to reach the places other jazz radio shows don't go - seems like the ideal venue to test a new documentary idea. While Jez and the team have plenty of experience commissioning and broadcasting new music, the focus is usually on the end product... the session. This time, the emphasis is on the process.

For the second half of this week's show, I've been lucky enough to make contact with Veryan Weston, one of my favourite pianists and composers, and sit in - with microphone and camera - on the creation of a new project Veryan's called The Quintet of Uncertainty. Very much an international project, the band features Yedo Gibson, a Brazilian improvising reeds player; Satoko Fukuda, a Japanese violinist trained classically at the Yehudi Menuhin School; Nana Tsiboe, a Ghanaian master drummer and Hannah Mashall, a British improvising cellist with roots in the classical tradition. Bringing together such wildly contrasting cultural and musical backgrounds, this was always going to be exciting. Throw into the mix the fact that Veryan and Yedo's compositions are based on an unconventional musical system, and expectations were high. We think you'll agree, the edgy and exciting blend of composition and improvisation that resulted is something of a triumph.

All the composed music's built around a series of pentatonic scales, which progress, one to the other, using a couple of specific systems. The pentatonic scale - a five note scale more commonly used in folk musics - is something of an obsession for Veryan, and you can hear him talk about it, and demonstrate how it can work, in the show. And don't forget to click the links below for some sheet music from the session, plus a bonus track.

If you enjoy this mini-experiment, and would like to hear similar features, do let us know by either commenting or emailing Jazz on 3: jazzon3@bbc.co.uk

Linton Chiswick

Listen again to the show in full: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzon3/

Photographs

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Music scores

Bonus track

Download the bonus track here: Veryan Weston's Quintet of Uncertainty - Pedals (MP3: 6mins 33secs, 9.2MB)