Hi Res Heart

Multi-reeds wiz, multi-instrumentalist, producer and Discus Music founder Martin Archer never ceases to amaze with his many different projects and many recorded releases. His label, Discus Music, has been around for 30 years and has released more than 200 discs, many of which are the different projects that he is creating and expanding. As far as I can tell, this is the second Hi Res Heart release although all of the members have been working with Archer in the past. Those in the know should recognize the name of trumpet great Charlotte Keeffe with three great disc out on Discus and a longtime collaborator with Alex ward & Paul Dunmall. I recall violinist Graham Clark from his work with Daevid Allen and several versions of Gong. Bassist Michael Bardon and drummer Martin Pyne can both be heard on a half dozen discs from the Discus label. This disc consists of four long improvisation pieces plus three shorter pieces composed by Mr. Archer, Ms. Keeffe and Mr. Pyne. The opening piece is called “Trail of Tears” and was composed by Martin Pyne. The term “Trail of Tears” often refers to the unfortunate treatment of Native Americans in the US. The piece starts with mostly vibes and other percussion with some echo effects. The rest of the quintet comes in as the old school earthly jazz theme is played and repeated over and over. Mr. Archer adds several reeds to the brew, the vibe churning. The trumpet and (tenor?) sax solo around one another. This piece is most memorable and reminds me of harp bop slowed down a bit. The title piece, “Move Fast and Mend Things” is the longest one here and is completely improvised. Mr. Archer solos midway playing a feisty bari sax feature, Mr. Clark plays a poignant violin solo near the end of this piece, summoning some prayer-like vibrations. On “Only Disobeying Orders” there is some strong, spirited interplay between the strings, trumpet, varied reeds and percussion. Ms. Keeffe’s “Weeds” has another ancient jazz-like melody which sounds rather familiar with a playful vibes solo and a quirky sopranino solo. “Snake Oil” is another long improv piece which shifts through different sections with spirited and unpredictable interplay. Mr. Archer plays sopranino as the rest of the quintet play in a Braxtonian bent-note like way. The full quintet works together well as the piece unfolds organically. – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY NYC

For Move Fast And Mend Things, their second album, Hi Res Heart have expanded from a trio to a quintet (if you don’t know their eponymous first album, Hi Res Heart, check it out – it’s also on Discus). The outfit started life as a trio with roots in the music of Chicago in the 1970s. As their sax player Martin Archer said of their first album, he feels most at home when he plays ‘this music – which for convenience I will call AACM Music, as it is directly inspired by the masters of the 70s black American avant-garde’ and ‘when I proposed this trio it was intentional to create an instrumentation which closely matched that of the classic Leo Smith Trio of the 1970s – a line-up which allows space and fire to co-exist.’ There’s plenty of space and fire in Move Fast And Mend Things. Not only that, but the inspired expansion of the group to include two string players makes for an exciting sound-world and lends an interesting depth to the music, too. There are too many highlights to mention. It may have its roots in the music of 70s Chicago, but it’s superfluous to know this: Hi Res Heart transcend them to create a music of their own that is very much of the 2020s. I could say more, but don’t want to colour the preconceptions of anyone listening for the first time. I could listen to this music all day. – Dominic Rivron, INTERNATIONAL TIMES https://internationaltimes.it/of-synesthesia-and-soundscapes/

A second album of deeply expressive improv and composed pieces here with unusual percussion and raw unpredictable brass as standard. Pyne’s Trail of Tears is measured and just beautiful. Love Keefe’s Weeds composition with its catchy recurring riffs and Pyne’s glorious vibes section. A new, but well honed five piece this lot. Gong man Graham Clark is a great addition on that avant violin, expanding the vocab with his unique free jazz voice. Love Bardon on double bass, so intuitive, a big part of the scaffold with Pyne, caught my eye big time did Bardon in Derby, especially when he let rip on a crunching solo. Archer’s Twister composition would fit nicely in a suspenseful avant garde film soundtrack. Will have all your senses on full alert and nerves mostly frazzled if you get to see them. If not buy this album and blast it out! – Paula Mcadam, online comment

HI RES HEART offers one’s own actions as good advice: Move Fast And Mend Things (DISCUS 201). The trio of Martin Archer on 6 reeds & recorders, Charlotte Keeffe on trumpet, and Martin Pyne on drums, vibraphone & percussion is augmented by Graham Clark on violin and Michael Bardon on double bass & cello. But it’s still about truth and a kind of abstract blues, in quasi-live mode. Framed by Pyne’s ‘Trail of Tears’ and Archer’s ‘The Twister’. ‘Weeds’ is by Keeffe, everything else, i.e., more than an hour, was created freehand. The matter-of-factness of ‘Only Disobeying Orders’ as well as ‘Snake Oil’. As self-irony? Or as mockery of the panaceas of capitalism and populism? Glassy tears dot the trail to a hymn, with a rattling beat leading to a wide field of jazzy anything goes, which requires only one thing: that it comes from the heart. The strings fiddle along, scratchy and sweet as gingerbread, the wind instruments crow and whistle, cheeky and curious, and sometimes a horn is Eeyore, or clogged. Bardon dances on his fingertips like Winnie-the-Pooh on his tiptoes. Cacophilic, playful, small-scale sounds are infiltrated with tear-jerking emotion, stirred up into dance. The violin flirts folkily with the baritone, and even sweeter with the cello, the flute with a trail of smoke, pizzicato with silence. From heavy breathing in the fog emerges tenor vocals and the blissfully and glassily swinging ‘Weeds’. Twenty minutes of quack-like, timid fishing in the murky waters finally follow their own advice. The baritone becomes a butterfly, like a rattle magic. And with violin, trumpet, and harmonica, Hi Res Heart swings out of the picture, as carefree as Jack in Luck. [BA 130 rbd] – Rigobert Dittmann, BAD ALCHEMY

This is resolutely experimental jazz inventiveness, with room left for each musician’s creativity. – Guy Stuckens RADIO AIR LIBRE

Really terrific. I love everything about it, just my thing. So congratulations. The whole band sound is perfect. A bit like Sun Ra at times (Strange Strings) Once I’ve played this one some more I’ll go back in time to hear 108CD. – email comment from a buyer.

A little over four years ago the trio of Martin Archer (saxes, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica), Charlotte Keeffe (trumpet and flugelhorn) and Martin Pyne (drums, percussion, toy piano, vibraphone) released the album Hi Res Heart. In 2025 that same trio, now with the addition of bassist / cellist Michael Bardon and violinist Graham Clark, made Hi Res Heart the name of the group, now officially a quintet. With that first album being a studio endeavor, the live character of Move Fast and Mend Things makes it a much more free sounding set, In fact of the seven tracks herein, only three are based on compositions (and much of those are improv), the other four (and by far the longest) are free improvisations by the entire group; but all the players here seem to be well tuned into one another on a telepathic level. Clark has been playing for decades, with Gong, Gongmaison, and various groups of the late Daevid Allen; Keeffe has played with numerous ensembles, both on and off the Discus label for many years, including with Carla Diratz, London Improvisers Orchestra, Paul Dunmall ensemble and others; similarly Bardon has been playing as a sideman for at least a dozen years on record, Pyne has been working his craft since the mid-90s and is featured on at least two dozen recordings, but Archer — who plays the entire saxophone family from bari to sopranino, as well as clarinets, recorders, and harmonica, seems to have a role on nearly everything released on the Discus label — these are all seasoned improvisers who know what they’re doing even when it sounds like they’re going off the rails! The three composed pieces are the opener “Trail of Tears” by Pyne, the closer “The Twister” by Archer, and “Weeds” by Keeffe, all exceptional, but the majority of the time is devoted to the four lengthy free improvisations: the title track and “Snake Oil,” both roughly an album side long, and the somewhat shorter “Heavy Manners” and “Only Disobeying Orders,” all four being superb examples of what the group can do without charts in front of them. Fans of free jazz and free improvisation will find plenty to get excited about with Move Fast and Mend Things. – Peter Thelen, EXPOSÉ http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/hi-res-heart-move-fast-and-mend-things-3.html 

The promise implied by the splendid title is fulfilled by listening to the album. For their second outing…..they have expanded to a quintet and abandoned careful studio construction for a looser, live performance mode. The expansion and change in approach pay off.  – Kevin Whitlock, JAZZWISE

For the new Hi Res Heart album Move Fast And Mend Things, the group has expanded to a five-piece with the addition of violinist Graham Clark and bassist Michael Bardon. Where the previous album compiled four compositions from each of the three players, here a composition each from Martin, Charlotte and Martin rub shoulders with some long twisting improvisations that drag the listener on a set of expansive adventures that turn away from the previous work and set sale for pastures new.

The full length of a CD is taken advantage of here and with only seven tracks, a couple of them sprawl into the twenty-minute mark while the three compositions are slightly more succinct. This makes for a decidedly tumultuous journey going from the gentle vibraphone and joyful African lilt of Martin Pyne’s opening “Trail Of Tears” to the crazed bass scrape and fiddle wandering of the title track.

The emotional flugelhorn and shaker percussion make for an interesting combination and the addition of the two new players certainly bears healthy fruit, the different textures sitting well together while the title track gives the players plenty of opportunity to show their worth. It feels like a door being opened to some unexpected realm, the sawing bass a distant threat as the fiddle meanders like a lonely child, placid dog at its heels. It feels pastoral but wild, horns on the edge of notes, the breath as integral a sound.

There is groaning and grinding as the bass sidesteps and shimmies developing into a game of tag deep in the wild. There is some tension in the fiddle as the track progresses and the horns shiver in anticipation. It is an enormous scene-setter that delves from furious drama to minimalist consideration in no time.

Thankfully, “Only Disobeying Orders” is a recorder-led calming down, the breaths of horn summoning up a distant blurry vision while the percussion on “Heavy Manners” stands out, the fevered rush of the instruments dipping and soaring from near silence are tempered by the variety of rhythmic input. The metallic shimmers and deep resonances play with the bass thrum and lend a comfortable bed to the awkward embellishments.

Charlotte’s “Weeds” returns to solid ground with a walking bass that supports the joy of her resounding old-time riffing and Andy’s sweet vibes workout. The quintet certainly make the listener work and you can feel the personalities coming through, each eager to show what they have to offer, but never overstepping their boundaries.

It is the long improvs where they really stretch their legs though and I guess when you have five people involved, the tendency to let go and allow the snowball to run will find you in a completely different place ten minutes later. Somebody may decide to instil a little order if things are going too far off piste, but it is like a gentle reminder and they will all play around with that for a little bit before someone takes the lead and scampers off. The fiddle often brings tension with the others reacting to that by becoming more measured, while there are moments where you feel a slight battle of wills as a forceful direction is taken, be it percussive variations throwing new routes open or a sudden bass run that drops the temperature.

It is heady, wild stuff which comes to a conclusion with the short burst of Martin’s “The Twister”, which is a harmonica-led sinuous and slightly woozy strut that feels almost like a palate cleanser after the feverish “Snake Oil” and yet another reminder of what this group can accomplish. It is wild, florid and fantastic in its scope and yet another shining feather in the Discus cap; a must for all those seeking adventure. – Mr Olivetti, FREQ https://freq.org.uk/reviews/hi-res-heart-move-fast-and-mend-things/

Worth the four-year wait, this follow-up to Hi Res Heart’s first disc extended and expands the sonic colors prominent on the last outing. This time the core UK trio of multi-reedist Martin Archer, brass player Charlotte Keeffe and percussionist Martin Pyne, all of whom have experience with their own bands and others, is amplified with two string players. They are bassist/cellist Michael Bardon, also a member of Shatner’s Bassoon, and violinist Graham Clark, who worked with Daevid Allen for many years, yet also played with the likes of Keith Tippett.

The richer and more intense interjections and patterns mean that this tincture expansion is not only upfront, but also preserved as a palimpsest, especially when violin stops continue to vibrate just below hearing range as vibe resonations or horn flutters are featured. Pyne’s ambidextrous skills also suggests that some careful overdubbing was used throughout since there’s often drum shuffles backing metal bar pings.

Archer uses his reeds for particular roles. A simple clarinet line is heard in counterpoint to Keefe’s plunger tones on “Only Disobeying Orders” for instance, while later on recorder peeps double the formal violin sweeps, gentling the narrative until a single bell shake marks the finale. Meanwhile the two extended improvisations include basement-level baritone saxophone riffs creating ostinato pushes that root the expositions as the other players move through variations that encompass flatulent brass projections, thinning fiddle stops, arco bass positioning and drum paradiddles. Either connecting with or emphasizing his timbral differences with the violin by plunging tones downwards as Clark strains upwards tones, Bardon acquits himself handily with more than an accompanying role.

As always the trumpeter is ready with comments and extensions for the compositions, adding brassy triplets, half-valve growls or gradually expanding grace notes when needed. As well Archer and Keefe create harmonies to pull along the themes if any of the players’ interjections become too intense. For additional liveliness there are interludes when the horns and fiddle create sympathetic antiphony with additional vamps hardened with drum ruffs.

Although Hi Res Heart’s conception is thoroughly 21st Century, it doesn’t mean the CD lacks cadence. “Weeds” for example, with its string plucks and reed trills moves from dissected doits to a springy, walking bass-positioned exposition that with its vibe ringing and horn harmonies resembles a 1960s Milt Jackson session.

Hi Res Heart has reached a notable plateau with this release. Yet the question remains if the band will explore more as a quintet, shrink to a trio or add even more voices next time out? – Ken Waxman, JAZZ WORD https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/hi-res-heart/

The beautiful cover art, “Butterfly Fall,” is by SILENA. The album was recorded on April 7, 2025, at Dubrek Studio, Derby, by Jay DEAN. Throughout, the album, played with clairvoyance, is adorned with sumptuous crystalline vibraphone sounds and delicate percussion, transfiguring this aria, isolating its melodic flexibility and its tender character. All the mystery and sensitive expression are present. The different timbres of the saxophones, the sopranino, drums, trumpet, flugelhorn, clarinet, double bass, viola, violin, cello, flute, and harmonica possess a radiance and an instinctive romanticism, warm and lucid.

The noble wind and string instruments allow themselves several daring feats, imitating the songs, cries, and cackles of birds. The prodigious vitality of the bows, the very present double bass, invites the cello and violin to its royal phrasing and abrupt fullness. Unusual arrangements and experimental passages traverse the scores, with the clarinet standing out with its atypical, ethereal sound. The instrumentalists employ fluctuating tempos, the drums displaying a lively energy with their light, sustained strokes, supported by occasional percussive clicks. A cacophony of increasing slowness emerges from the wind and string instruments, with whistles, drones, sighs, and digressions in a superbly nuanced language. The strings, in their broad strokes, resemble the power of the winds. Trumpet and flugelhorn, each in turn, contribute their distinctive resonance and impeccable expressive range, punctuated by breaths. A free jazz musical line pursues its acoustic mobility, its immediacy, its incantatory power, as if in a delirium on singular fragments, as much dramatic as amorous, with clouds of double bass, cello, harmonica, recorder, clarinet, bells, percussion… Short, crisp notes on tempos that take freefall at the whim of the instrumentalists. The trumpet is radiant gold in its fruity playing, ensuring its constant sparseness, conversing with the nectars of the various, devouring, conquering saxophones. The sopranino, with its suspended sounds, full of verve and mischief, distinguishes itself perched in its high register. The double bass, tirelessly illustrating itself with its ever-pearlescent playing. A musical fresco breathing its ample, mellow, sometimes harsh sounds, regardless of the power of the soloists’ playing. The diction is as fluid as it is intricate, and on this CD, this is essential due to the overwhelming presence of the instruments, each chosen at random from their journey to our ears. Total freedom in the scores, in their sublime playing, in the improvisations, through their touch of exemplary shape and form, flawlessly traversing the vibraphone, percussion, drums, brass, strings, and winds.

It feels as if the fantastic sounds of the Homeric trumpet are plunging the world into a dream with its beautiful moods, in turn with the magnificent bugle, the picturesque violin, the learned bass, the virtuoso drumsticks, the idyllic instruments imitating whistles, horns, snores, shouts, songs, and birds. All journey from the first to the last note with as much serenity and passion as nervousness and barbarity, in the torture inflicted upon their instruments to coax out incredibly beautiful, soaring sounds. Chaos, madness, gentleness, and talent are all invited to the party. Instruments that are part of their very being, inseparable and joyful. A surreal canvas, a refined modelling with the mysticism of contemporary, jazz-infused maturity. A clear, sun-drenched sound is achieved, erasing all excesses and brutality in their discourse of evident vigour and originality. The recording is ample, reverberated with finesse; the harmonic and dissonant flavours intertwine in a writing of tangled transparencies. A free jazz sound, experimental, a very vibrant interpretation without falling into exaggeration. The divine harmonica returns in the finale, crushing everything with its memorable passage, overshadowing “its cousins” with its excellent execution. The dreamlike timbres of the various instruments retain all their brilliance, highlighting the audacious and phenomenal work of the compositions. Musicians who have the chair and the dexterity in their very particular musical garden. A heroic success.

Seven meticulously crafted plays, each as captivating as the last, each with its own unique character. – Marie Mesmer, HIGHLANDS

The result is something which at times is full of the spontaneity and excitement one has come to expect from avant garde jazz, but others where it is slightly more controlled. While Martin A and Charlotte are often the lead players, with the bass providing much more of a counterpoint and the violin often sitting back as there is not enough room for its presence to be truly felt, what is somewhat intriguing is the role of Martin P, who is set up in a manner so he can move easily between instruments, so much so that he can be playing vibraphone with one hand and drums with another, which totally changes the foundation and structure of the music. This is dynamic and heavily contrasting material, where space is a constant, keeping the layers clearly separated and giving each musician somewhere to go when they look to understand the next step of the journey. I have always enjoyed the way that Kevin Kastning describes this as “live composition” as opposed to improvisation and that is certainly the case here in an album which is thrilling, vibrant and full of grace. Rating: 8/10 – Kev Rowland HOUSE OF PROG https://houseofprog.com/hi-res-heart-move-fast-and-mend-things-2025/ 

On its second outing, British outfit Hi Res Heart trades the stitched-together aesthetic of its debut for the friction and immediacy of shared space, sharpening both its collective instinct and sonic identity. Where the earlier release documented remotely recorded parts later assembled in the studio, Move Fast And Mend Things convenes the ensemble in a single setting, heightening responsiveness and rapport. By supplementing the core trio—reedist Martin Archer, trumpeter Charlotte Keeffe and percussionist Martin Pyne—with violinist Graham Clark and bassist Michael Bardon, the band both expands its timbral palette and deepens its internal dialogue.

The program balances three charts, one from each founding member, with four group improvisations, yielding a multifaceted set characterized by pungent shifts in density, register and rhythmic intent. In its blend of open-ended exploration and swinging tunes, the music reflects Archer’s long-standing admiration for Chicago’s AACM. That lineage surfaces not only in his deployment of multiple reeds, but also in Pyne’s resourceful use of small percussion, recalling the little instruments of the Art Ensemble of Chicago without lapsing into imitation.

Throughout, the emphasis remains on ensemble interplay rather than individual glory. That is not to say that the individuals are not glorious. Keeffe proves especially versatile, toggling between breathy splutters, plaintive blurts and buzzy rumbles with a keen sense of pacing. Archer counters with a broad expressive range of his own, from explosive squalls and hoarse exhortations to steady stepwise progressions and catchy saxophone licks that anchor the more turbulent passages. Pyne’s “Trail Of Tears” opens with accomplished suspenseful vibraphone before introducing a loosely martial throb that underpins a buoyant, free-bop-inflected theme. A series of shifting configurations follow, foregrounding different instrumental pairings while maintaining a clear through-line.

Although improvised, the lengthy title cut unfolds through a pleasing symmetry. It both begins and ends with a duet between Clark’s violin and Bardon’s bowed bass, darting and scratchy at the outset, calming and elegiac at the close. Structural elements assert themselves between times too at the micro scale, in the form of repeating patterns, extemporized melodies and poised counterlines. But they emerge as part of an organic, continuously adapting form that also features episodes for bickering horns, bucolic flute and percussion, and mournful violin undercut by growling brass.

More discursive, “Only Disobeying Orders” also toys with form, conjuring a hovering consonance and a beat that stays elusive. Archer’s tenor runs the gamut from hesitant to assured in communion with Keeffe’s lyrically garrulous flugelhorn on “Heavy Manners”. It seamlessly transitions into the jaunty swagger of the trumpeter’s “Weeds”, animated by half valve effects that might be a homage to Lester Bowie in his pomp. Archer’s “The Twister” closes the set with an irrepressible lift, its metrical elasticity and joyous momentum enticing one to hit repeat and begin the journey all over again. – John Sharpe ALL ABOUT JAZZ https://www.allaboutjazz.com/move-fast-and-mend-things-hi-res-heart-discus-music