Description

Pat Fish has no use for modernity. The singer/songwriter and leader of the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy (or Jazz Butcher, depending on the album) is doggedly idiosyncratic in his approach to music, following his own path and no one else’s. After a long career that has seen varying degrees of success and a few masterpieces, one could forgive Fish if he were to get a bit sardonic in his old age. Yet, The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers is not as cynical as that. The album, now released to the public after a fan-funded limited pressing, casts Fish as a weary-yet-amicable traveller, a man who has seen it all and is more than happy to tell you what he’s learned. The dynamism of past releases like the brilliant A Scandal in Bohemia is nowhere to be found on The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers, but that’s probably for the best. Fish is too wise of a songwriter to try and recapture past glories. Instead, his songs here are more meditative than one would expect. Even more rollicking tracks like “Shame About You” have a fairly easygoing bent. Aside from “Solar Core,” which is the closest Fish has come to writing a straightforward rock song, the Jazz Butcher remains a mostly subdued ensemble throughout. The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers doesn’t aim to please everyone, and it’s arguable that Pat Fish doesn’t have much left to prove in music. Rumours are that this will be the last Jazz Butcher album, though that — like everything to do with the band — is subject to Fish’s whims. If this is to be the final bow of the Jazz Butcher, it’s a fittingly dignified exit. Its pleasures slowly unfold with repeated listens as you catch previously unheard licks or mis-remembered turns of phrase. In short, it’s the Jazz Butcher doing what they do best, and that’s almost certainly worth giving a try.

Track list:
1. Animals
2. Shame About You
3. Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers
4. Tombé Dans Les Pommes
5. Count Me Out
6. All The Saints
7. Mercy
8. Black Raoul
9. Shakey
10. Solar Core
11. Saints Prayer