NAT BIRCHALL – CREATION
“Creation” is Nat Birchall's eighth album and his most fully
realised to date. The group assembled for this recording features two drummers,
Johnny Hunter and Andy Hay, and along with Nat, pianist Adam Fairhall and
bassist Michael Bardon they create a sound and energy perfectly matched to
reveal the deepest messages within the music. The group create enough kinetic
energy for interstellar travel, which is exactly where the music takes the
listener! From the opening bars of “Love in the Cosmos” to the closing
diminuendo of “Light of All Worlds” the music stretches and soars, taking the
listener both deep within themselves and also to the furthest reaches of
space/time on a journey of profound emotional expression that ultimately
uplifts the spirit. Gilles Peterson said Nat is “one of the best musicians in
the UK, no question”, plus Nat's last album (“Invocations”, on Jazzman Records)
was featured in his best of 2015 show. Nat's music is regularly featured on
Gilles' radio shows, as well as BBC Radio 3 shows, Jazz on 3 and Jazz Line-Up,
plus Jamie Cullum's BBC Radio 2 show and shows like Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music.
RICH HALLEY – THE OUTLIER
Saxophonist and composer Rich Halley releases The Outlier,
featuring multi-reed player Vinny Golia, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, bassist
Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley. The Outlier is the new recording by the
Rich Halley 5 and features a mix of new original compositions by Rich Halley
and free improvisations by the group. The addition of Vinny Golia's baritone
sax and bass clarinet to the front line creates new colors, textures and
harmonic possibilities which energize the music. The Outlier combines roots, exploration and
real emotion in an engaging and powerful statement. Rich Halley has released
nineteen recordings as a leader. The
Outlier follows the Rich Halley 4's earlier Eleven, Creating Structure, The
Wisdom of Rocks, Crossing the Passes, Back from Beyond and Requiem for a Pit
Viper, all critically acclaimed.
NELS CLINE - LOVERS
Lovers is an expansive double-album that Nels Cline has
dreamed of making for over 25 years. Inspired by the likes of Bill Evans, Jim
Hall, Gil Evans, Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini and others, Cline finally
realized his ambitious mood music project with an ensemble of 23 stellar
musicians conducted and arranged by Michael Leonhart. Lovers was produced by
David Breskin and recorded and mixed by Ron Saint Germain. The material on
Lovers is wide-ranging; the album s 18 tracks include Cline s striking
originals as well as Great American Songbook standards and songs by Sonic
Youth, Arto Lindsay, Jimmy Giuffre and others. Cline was named by Rolling Stone
as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has led various groups of
his own, most consistently the avant-garde ensemble the Nels Cline Singers, and
appeared as a guest or feature player on more than 200 albums. In addition, for
the last dozen years, he s been a full-time member of the acclaimed rock band
Wilco.
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