Empirical - Connection: the rhythm section’s forceful grooves provide ever-shifting structures

Empirical are part of a growing cohort of enterprising young European jazz groups who behave more like rock bands, sticking together and largely eschewing side-man roles, developing a sound and a repertoire of their own, and carefully tending a public image to match.

It paid off in 2010 when they won the MOBO award for best jazz group.

Now, for their fifth release, saxophonist Nathaniel Facey, drummer Shaney Forbes, vibraphonist Lewis Wright and bassist Tom Farmer have signed to hip Washington DC indie label Cuneiform, and clearly have their eyes on the US market, where their open-textured post-bop will find a ready audience.

Wright’s deft harmonic sense and the rhythm section’s forceful grooves provide ever-shifting structures which Facey’s Ornette Coleman- esque playing explores well.