FLY AGARIC draw their inspiration from the Kingdom Fungi, also known as the Mushroom World: these curious growths which appear within a very short space of time, pushing their way up through the undergrowth with great force, containing the heavy metals and elements deposited in the earth that produce the great range of colours found in different mushroom species, and which carry the spores – the vital, reproductive agents. Our vision of Jazz, inasmuch as we are jazz musicians by background (among other things), is a playful one and we plumb its depths of meaning only to have a good laugh at what we find. The impetus to form this band came from a long-standing network of friends to which we belong and was brought to fruition by a sort of ‘disturbing of the ground’ which resulted when we were kindly asked to perform to a large audience in Luxembourg. In this way too, the band is like a mushroom springing from the mycelium, a complex network of fibres, and often growing near footpaths and other byways. The material we play is mostly original and is composed by all members of the group.
Zac Gvi – Sax, Clarinet
Francesc Marco – Piano
Jiri Slavik – Double-bass
Fred Thomas – Percussion, Toys
Their debut album “In Search of Soma” was released in October 2012 on the F-IRE Collective Label. Buy it here.
“An adventure in sound and performance is exactly what the quartet delivers on this powerful, eloquent album.” Chris Parker
“In Search of Soma demonstrates a confident grip of jazz orthodoxies, but the LP is also eager to move beyond those realms. Fly Agaric understand the distinctive freedom that can be cultivated by scholarly discipline and attentiveness.” The Skinny
“In Search Of Soma is, as its title suggests, an attempt at finding a new way of seeing – a contemporary jazz album that is less about jazz language and technique and much more about sound, concept and imaginative juxtapositions. Here are suggestions that Fly Agaric are a multi-faceted band with feeling and atmosphere in their music to match the pointed deconstructions.” OMH Music
“If you don’t know or haven’t flown with Agaric Airlines (AA) then you should check them out! Fresh, fun and butt kicking when called for. It’s a real pleasure to hear such excellent musicians in their deeper creative moods performing their own compositions” Barre Phillips
“A halting accordion, as if played by a child, a wodden flute hovering above piano and bass, some raw sax swoops, and finally train whistles receding into the distance – is this a list Morricone score? In fact it’s the debut release by a young, London-based jazz quartet, but it’s quite a while before it sounds like any such thing. If there are debts scattered here to Morricone and Nino Rota’s melodic flair, the second tune, “Serenity” – understated sax glissandos and exquisite pianissimo phrasing – seems a love letter to Ellington. The Duke’s range of colour and twinkling eye – as if he could hardly believe the sheer wonder of being a jazz pianist – offer a way out of the contemporary jazz cul de sac, and Fly Agaric grasp it with tenderness and wit.
“Arrete ca tout de suite” features a blues strut where the group occasionally lets rip, but Fly Agaric see no need to roar when you can whisper, or even mumble suggestively. Zac Gvi’s sax and clarinet are eloquent at low volume, and all four move as a team. The dead hand of the jazz solo is simply ignored as a device in favour of group music-making.
The musicians arrive from Spain via Luxenbourg, Czech Republic via Rome, and the UK. It’s tempting to hear this a a quintessentially London album, with its cunning understatement and Euro-tinged cosmopolitanism. Both Gvi and bass player Jiri Slavik are fluent composers, and Slavik’s “Ill Neige a Pontault” is a melancholy classic. Finally, Fly Agaric’s secret weapons: they don’t take themselves too seriously (“Chanson D’Ivrogne” is a florid pianist in a bar full of drunks), and drummer Fred Thomas nips any slickness in the bud with his splendidly creative messiness” The Wire Magazine
“In Search of Soma, like much of the F-IRE Collective’s work, views the musical world as a smorgasbord, combining snatches of blues, waltzes, free (and structured) jazz etc. to form a restless, constantly shifting soundscape that – appropriately enough, given the psychedelic references in the band’s name and album title – is often frenetic, edgy and kaleidoscopic, but can also be serene, mellow and meditative. Chattering percussive effects, honking rumbustiousness, roiling fervour jostle promiscuously with (deceptive) calm and – on one track – the voice (from a speech on employment) of Nicolas Sarkozy to make up a fascinating set of multi-hued pieces, all delivered with extraordinary panache and assurance by a band that is clearly as open-eyed as it is open-eared. ‘An adventure in sound and performance’ is promised in the band’s publicity material, and that’s exactly what the quartet delivers on this powerful, eloquent album” London Jazz News
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