Nick Ramm Ensemble is proud to present fresh compositions drawing from Ramm's roots in soulful and contemporary jazz
The all-acoustic line-up of piano, double bass and drum kit is augmented by two horns – tenor saxophone and trumpet. In much of the writing you will hear the horns playing together like, for example, in the Miles Davis bands of the fifties and sixties. Aside from modern jazz roots, stylistically, the material draws from a wide palette of influences: Brazilian, Cuban, Ghanaian music, contemporary funky flavours, minimal and abstract moments.
Many of the main themes are written in the minor key but balanced by another section with brighter tonalities. The fast paced hard bop number 'Payroll', the laid back high-life groove of 'Song For My Father' and the slow cycles of 'Little White Petals' are three contrasting examples from the set.
The band has come about thanks, in part, to his residency at live music venue Mu.ldn in Haggerston, London, where, since 2023, he performs often as a duo or trio. After months of playing covers or sometimes improvising freely, new melodies and riffs crystallised and a whole set was formed. The group concept was then enlarged to a five-piece to make up the ensemble.
Nick Ramm Quintet: make soulful Solstice sounds at the Vortex
Kevin Le Gendre July 1st 2026 Jazzwise
With a line-up boasting some of the UK’s finest improvisers, pianist Nick Ramm delivers a set that balances hard-edged drive with delicate balladry, proving that acoustic jazz’s core values are in safe hands
In the run-up to the summer solstice, here is a session with a strong feel-good factor to match the bright, balmy days. Pianist Nick Ramm heartily delivers contemporary soul jazz, defined by strong, rousing melodies and enhanced by ear-catching solos. With the likes of tenor saxophonist Pete Wareham and trumpeter Byron Wallen in the horn section, and double bassist Tom Herbert and drummer Corrie Dick joining Ramm in the rhythm section, the quintet boasts a couple of generations of A-list British players who are in their prime – which is abundantly clear from the quality of the performance.
While the fact that their professional debuts reach back to the ’80s and ’90s might account for the maturity of the playing, the many bands the aforesaid musicians have either led or been a part of – from Sound Advice and Jade Fox to Acoustic Ladyland, The Invisible and Dinosaur – are also interesting because of their broad stylistic range (African-Caribbean funk, rock, experimental electronica). But the players are entirely at home in this acoustic quintet, which is largely a celebration of what could be called core values in jazz. After all, the pummelling opener ‘Minor Niner’ – a clear chordal reference – has a crackling Tyner-Trane current flowing right through it, but as the set unfolds there is a less intense yet no less affecting energy that surfaces in Ramm’s compositions. Foregrounding a heavy bassline, ‘Boo Na Cha Boom’ has a bluesiness with subtle hard edges that shows how Ramm may have drawn from the vocabulary of 1960s heroes Duke Pearson and Donald Byrd among others, but given it a very personal resonance. The breezy Latin riffing of ‘Dos Santos’ is another nod back that is not backwards. However, it is on down- or mid-tempo ballads that Ramm shows his thematic flourish, especially ‘Little White Petals’, which has a sweet, airy sensitivity.
In contrast are the livelier numbers, ‘Second Rise’ and ‘Payroll’, which build nicely on the detailed percussive momentum provided by Dick and Herbert, and trigger expansive solos and smart interplay from the horns. Ramm is also an able improviser, and whether he plays punchy octaves or jumps through larger intervals, he brings welcome colour to the music’s palette while keeping the emotional narrative on track, which is as playful as it is serious. Accessible and ambitious are well woven together.
To a certain extent there is a loose parallel with some of the acoustic music the late great Roy Hargrove made throughout his career. Ramm’s group has a soulfulness and melodic immediacy that are such an integral part of many black music traditions, regardless of whether they fall into pop or art categories, and it should be interesting to see what happens if he takes this appealing group into the studio in the near future.
