When I first came to uni in Liverpool I thought the days of a jazz band having residency in a cosy venue were long gone. In my uninitiated mind that was reserved for the smokey clubs of New York in the 50s. It may have been a narrow perspective, but then again the average pub frequented by students these days might have a karaoke machine or at best a half decent playlist. The Grapes however, on the corner of Roscoe Street, does things differently. Every Thursday from 9 till late the place is packed with jazz fans, eager to hear the latest offering from Ambro Collective.
The 5 piece embraces the 21st century sounds of Alfa Mist, Yussef Dayes, D’Angelo and everything in between. Truly chameleonic both in their set lists and personnel, they encourage musicians to sit in with them, and on any given night they might be joined (or stood in for) by an extra saxophonist or a guitar player for example. When I saw them, someone stepped in on bass for a tune, and by the end of the evening there were 3 saxophones and a trombone all trading licks in their own style and expertly adapting to the songs being called out. It never felt overpowering, only intriguing to hear what I’d be hit with next. The group welcomes anyone willing to step up and embrace the music – there’s a reason collective is in the name.
Behind all this, the rhythm section was tucked away on the sofas at the back of the pub, supplying a pocket so deep and connected that it felt like one person was doing it all. Ambro are one of the breathtaking outfits coming out of LIPA at the moment, with the regular lineup consisting of Skye on drums, Charlie on bass, Oliver on keys, and Hannah and Felix on saxophones. I sat down with Skye, Charlie and Oliver before their set to see what makes them one of Liverpool’s premier jazz bands. I was struck particularly by how driven they are to constantly improve their playing, despite the prowess they already show playing gigs around Liverpool, including at The Tung Auditorium. They challenge themselves by choosing songs on the fly and adapting to any musician who joins them. Spontaneous, collaborative expression is at the heart of this ensemble, and I’m fascinated to see where it will take them, especially now that they’ve recently been cooking in the studio. Here’s my interview:
What’s the last song you all listened to?
Skye: A jungle track I produced last night.
Charlie: Bond – Moses Yoofee Trio.
Oliver: RobertaFlack – Flying Lotus.
Can you tell me about your gig at the tung?
Skye: Yeah that was a sick gig.
Oliver: Very fun, it was a great experience for our band. I got to play on a giant Steinway.
That double keyboard setup must have been a dream, with the grand and electric pianos. What was your approach to switching between them?
Oliver: Well we had a song that we were playing by this Japanese guy, and it has an e-piano in it, so it felt like I needed to have it for that song. But for the rest of the gig I was on the piano. When you’ve got the chance to play on a Steinway, yeah, I was so gassed.
Skye: And it looked sick as well.
You’ve had a weekly residency at The Grapes for well over a year now. What does this mean to the band, and can you talk about the community you’ve built that consistently comes to listen to you play?
Skye: I think it’s fantastic because they’ve always had the Sunday (at The Grapes), and that’s something that’s been a staple in bars and pubs. So to have a Thursday and be doing jazz, our own dedicated night no matter what, is really nice.
Oliver: There’s constantly new people.
Charlie: Also there’s a lot of people that come who we know now that play with us. So they might jump on a song, which is pretty cool. Because that was the original thing, that’s why it’s called a collective, we wanted it to be people coming up and big groups playing.
The regular lineup is drums, keys, bass, horns, but sometimes you’ll have a guitarist come in for example. How does the dynamic change when you have musicians sitting in with you?
Charlie: It’s just about where to sit, and if the guitarist knows where to play and where not to play.
With 2 and sometimes even 3 saxophone players at once, how do you balance each part and decide who plays what?
Skye: They don’t, they just do it.
Oliver: With a third saxophone, Luke pulls up sometimes and he’s just locked in all the time so he can adapt.
Skye: It’s the same with any other horn player. Any time somebody’s come along, they set up and it’s like cool, ready, and they don’t know any song. They’ll figure out what to do or they’ll ask what key it’s in – sometimes not even that, just listen and play. That’s what it’s intended to do, listening and playing by ear.
On drums, is there a particular groove, fill or rudiment you’ve been working on recently that you’re trying to work into your playing?
Skye: Everything. Every time we play there’s always something I need to work on. I need to work on a specific shuffle from Cute by Luke Titus. It’s one of those I want to get down because I know it’s going to expand my playing, and will help with a lot of other things like fills.
You were using a fretless bass in your cover of Lady by D’Angelo. Do you prefer one or the other?
Charlie: I kind of go between them each week. Like 10 minutes before I’ll leave I choose one. For this the fretless works because it’s a bit more expressive, but there’ll be some days where I’m more inspired by someone who plays a fretted instrument.
How do you choose what songs you play? Does it change week to week?
Skye: We always play Keep On by Alfa Mist first. Maybe twice we haven’t played it. That’s my soundcheck, warmup song, making sure my kit’s alright. But then after that I just go “what do you wanna play?”
Charlie: We have a bank of songs that we pick from, probably like 25.
Do you think there are any tunes in the modern era that are becoming integral to know as part of a band, like traditional jazz standards were before?
Charlie: One song that can get called and most people know is ‘Them Changes’. You go to any night similar to this, they probably will play that song. We play it quite a lot.
You’re now going into the studio, how does a band based around playing live change their approach for recording?
Charlie: Not much, I think we’re trying to replicate this as much as possible.
Skye: It’s interesting. If we’re overdubbing, we can’t really get the same feeling because we all bounce off of each other any time we play. So we’re always trying to get it in one take, that’s the only way we can really do it. We record us three at the same time and then the horns overdubbed.
How has the band evolved from covers to originals?
Oliver: I feel like when I joined the band they started wanting to write music.
Charlie: I’d agree. It felt like when we were in here, we were straying from the songs a bit more, and we’d switch up to play something completely random. It was similar when we were in rehearsal, and when you (Skye) came back from America you had a batch of songs that we translated to our style.
Oliver: A lot of them are Skye’s songs but we’ve reharmonised and added shit.
Skye: It felt right to do it now rather than any time before.
Where do you see jazz at the moment? Who’s inspiring you?
Oliver: Kiefer. He’s a big inspiration for just learning off of YouTube. That’s my main inspiration right now, it changes all the time. I’ll spend like 6 months on someone, then I’ll move on to the next person, and figure out what I can get from them.
Skye: I think it’s my friends, these two are my biggest inspirations. I’ve got a few drummer friends, they’re big inspirations, Yussef Dayes as well. And then completely different artists like Tyler, The Creator for instance. There’s a lot of people with different sounds who own their sound and make it so beautiful, and I think that’s what inspires me the most, especially when coming here and playing. These two have their own signature sound, signature fills, I can predict what they’re gonna do because we play so much together.
Are you influenced by anyone who plays a different instrument?
Skye: Most of my influences are multi-instrumentalists: Prince, Pharrell, Tyler. Sometimes it’s not even about playing, but understanding the instrument, and knowing how it works within a song. Kiefer as well, like I’m nowhere near a keys player, I never touch it unless it’s for producing, but it’s so beautiful to hear what he comes out with. And Alfa Mist. And Robert Glasper.
Charlie: Kiefer is a big one for us. The drummer Chris Dave and Isaiah Sharkey the guitarist also.
Oliver: I’ve got a crazy pull – Joe Hisaishi, who composed the Studio Ghibli films. The harmonies he made, really cool, really jazzy but also melancholy.
Skye: Yeah, movie music is so amazing. Hans Zimmer is a goat, all the Disney Pixar scores, La La Land.
How did the adidas collab come about?
Skye: That was great. It was for Laces Out, they needed a band to play and wanted to get some local rappers. We didn’t see why not because at the end of the day it’s Adidas, who doesn’t love Adidas? They’re a great company to work with and it was an amazing experience. Hopefully next year we go back and do an Air Max 95 collab, you never know.
Have you been working on anything new for tonight?
Skye: I was gonna say we need to do a random song tonight.
Oliver: Should we do one we’ve never rehearsed?
Skye: Yeah, but I’m talking so random, just for the shits and gigs.
You could do a Hans Zimmer track…
Skye: That’s what I’m saying we could pull out Interstellar, a jungle Interstellar. Or like the iCarly theme song. It’s always great playing something that people will definitely know.
Who’s an artist/band in Liverpool you think people should pay attention to?
Oliver: Blueprint, Fatbaby.
Charlie: Tilly Louise.
Skye: Girl Group, that’s my slimes, I love them so much. And Ethan’s band, Domestic Partners.
Oliver: Shoutout Ethan, he fills in for me sometimes.
Skye: Goodnight Letters. I’m trying to think who else, because there’s a lot of bands I’ve heard and thought “wow, this is insane.” A lot of people are amazing but they just need recognition.
What can people expect next?
Skye: More. More more more everything. More gigs, festivals, we need to release music. When we release it’s gonna be great. Off the back of that we’re gonna see what happens, I’m excited.
I’m excited too, Felix showed me ‘Toast’, it’s brilliant, it’s got something different about it.
Skye: I love it, I was listening to it today. I’ve got like 6 different versions of it.
Oliver: It’s just putting the pieces together now.
