The Spring Quartet, Barbican

Publicists sometimes reach too quickly for the term ‘supergroup’, but this time, it really means something. Expectations were understandably high when drummer Jack Dejohnette and saxophonist Joe Lovano, two of the most distinguished players from the Miles Davis era, joined forces with pianist Leo Genovese and bass player Esperanza Spalding, newly-risen young stars, in the Spring Quartet, which promises to be a sensational blend of youth and experience. Expect modern, post-bop jazz, at its most thrilling and incisive, with scintillating patterns of interlaced rhythm, explosive bursts of melody, and finger-blisteringly virtuosic playing.  

The players’ pedigree is outstanding. Jack Dejohnette is indisputably one of the best drummers in the world, with an outstanding discography including Miles Davis’ albums Bitches’ Brew and On the Corner; Joe Lovano, a decade younger, is also a veteran of masterful ensembles, in his case with Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman and McCoy Tyner. Genovese and Spalding, a generation younger, play a regular duet already, in demand globally for its quicksilver lyricism. They have enough awards between them to fill an aisle at Tesco, let alone a trophy cabinet, with fistfuls of Grammys, including, in Spalding’s case, the only Best New Artist Grammy ever awarded (in 2011, ahead of Justin Bieber) to a jazz musician. 

Early reviews from the US, where they are currently touring, suggest that something special is brewing, though while they all get to know each better, they are sticking fairly close to the mainstream. Though the quartet is already confident enough of its brilliance to play messily, with roles, timing, and notes all creatively confused; when they break through to new ground, with any luck in early April when they touch down at the Barbican, they’ll be unmissable.