[[{"fid":"70613","view_mode":"inlineleft","fields":{"format":"inlineleft","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineleft","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineleft","data-delta":"1"}}]]GRAVITY is the powerful new album by The Eternal Triangle, composed of octogenarian soprano and alto saxophonist Trevor Watts, septuagenarian pianist and multi-keyboard virtuoso Veryan Weston, and the much younger percussionist Jamie Harris. 

Born in Uckfield, Sussex, in 1950, his father was a judge advocate in the RAF, his mother a dancer and actor. One of his two sisters became a jazz singer, the other sang opera.

“There was a beat-up upright piano at home, and I got to just stand and play it in a kind of open way which I picked up from records lying around. My mum loved Spanish flamenco and if I played anything she liked she’d shout ‘Ole!’ from the kitchen. Later I borrowed my sister’s blues records of Otis Spann, Sonny Boy Williamson and Mose Allison.

“I failed most of my O-levels, lived with my parents in Cornwall and did retakes at the local poly. I worked on farms and as a hotel dishwasher in Truro and started buying records from a cafe in Falmouth. I was listening to Bartok chamber music, Booker Ervin and Dexter Gordon’s Setting The Pace and John Cage’s Fontana Mix, hearing all kinds of music from all over the world in my upstairs room.

“When I was 16 I hitch-hiked to the Edinburgh Festival. I met and stayed with the folk and blues singer and amazing guitarist Davey Graham. The nights were getting colder and I remember him putting a blanket over me as he left the room we were all sharing. It took me three days to get back to Cornwall, with my last night spent vertical in a Bodmin Moor telephone box, with the rain pouring down outside.

“I moved to Stoke Newington in north London. I got an old upright from Finsbury Park and wheeled it on a trolley to my flat and put it in the kitchen. I met my future wife Jill on a bus coming back from a gig. We moved back to Cornwall where I met Frank Charlton, who had a cottage in the hills and loads of books and records. He played trumpet and I started playing jazz and blues with him in local clubs, restaurants and military bases. He became my mentor and I loved him.

“Then it was back to London again, and Brixton Hill. We’d regularly go to The Plough in Stockwell to hear Stan Tracey’s Trio with John Stevens and Scottish bassist Lindsay Cooper. Stan gave me a piano lesson and I got an artist-in-residence opportunity at Digswell House in Hertfordshire and did regular improvisation workshops with younger local musicians. We formed a band called Stinky Winkles and won the Young Jazz Musicians of 1979 award, and played in festivals in Dunkirk, San Sebastian and Wroclaw in Poland.

“I made my first record with Lol Coxhill, played with drummer Eddie Prevost and finally met Trevor again, who asked me to be part of his new project with west African drummers, Moire Music. We toured America, Europe and Australasia. It was a truly fruitful time for me.”

Veryan and Trevor reunited in the 2000s and improvised saxophone/piano dialogues. After Trevor’s 80th birthday they formed a trio with Jamie Harris, and The Eternal Triangle was born.

Harris’s percussion retains the power of the superb African drummers of Moire Music.

“Jamie is powerfully rhythmic and Trevor has worked with him for many years. They live close to each other and regularly work out ideas and rhythms. They work beautifully as a duo — I’m lucky to be there too!”

What about Trevor’s astonishing skill in creating melody out of improvisation?

“Trevor discovers new melodic phrases, always sudden and fresh-sounding. It’s the way he practises. He finds scale material that can be turned into characterful phrases and these can be extended into shaped melodies. It’s a very organic way to work. I like this and feel I can do it as well. Nothing is set in stone, we make frames that can be shaped, allowing us to instantly respond to each other, but within the shape and character of the piece.”

What is it about the Watts/Harris partnership that expresses such unity? 

“Trevor and Jamie share a real depth and love for rhythm. Trevor first suggested that Jamie play drums and soon realised that he was a ‘natural.’ He passes on many ideas from his own musical wisdom and ability to adapt to playing situations, and Jamie and I have learned to be adaptable. To me, this feels like a microcosm of natural communism, where we, as three people, think of our music and work together as a shared collective. Nobody is the boss or paymaster, we share and support each other.”

And how does Trevor, now in his mid-eighties, still keep creating such hugely energetic music and performances, so imbued with the Moire spirit of Africa? 

Listen to the track called Ghana Friends. 

“He’s worked day-in, day-out on his music. Each of his two saxophones now show symbiotic connections that are aged with his body into more or less one item. The sounds flow from him as one. Nothing can be separated any more. That’s all there is! Whoever gets a chance to hear this will have the opportunity to have one of the most memorable listening experiences of their life.”

The Eternal Triangle's new album, Gravity is released by Jazz Now Records.