Empirical: Tabula Rasa

This young "Brit-jazz" quartet attracted much attention with their first three albums, winning mainstream music awards and generally getting the sort of press that most young jazz musicians would kill for. With the confidence and artistic freedom that comes with such attention, some might say that saxophonist Nathaniel Facey, drummer Shaney Forbes, bassist Tom Farmer and vibra-
phonist Lewis Wright have lost the run of themselves on their fourth release, adding a string quartet to Empirical's sound and sprawling the results over two CDs. There are moments of real excitement, with knotty M-Base-
inspired rhythms from Forbes and inventive soloing from Wright, but there are plenty of longueurs over 90 minutes. And who, apart from Keith Jarrett, releases a double album these days ? A talented, promising group, perhaps over-reaching a little. empiricalmusic.com