Download the soundtrack to Mark French's superb film here https://trevorwatts.bandcamp.com/album/dialogues-at-cafe-oto
Wednesday 5 September 2018
Soundtrack to Dialogues at Cafe Oto film available on Bandcamp
Download the soundtrack to Mark French's superb film here https://trevorwatts.bandcamp.com/album/dialogues-at-cafe-oto
Thursday 26 July 2018
Stuart Masters live on BBC Essex today!
Stuart will be live from 1400 on BBC Essex today on Tony Fisher's show! Union Chapel & Elsewhere is available everywhere digitally and physically from hi4headrecords.com
Sunday 22 July 2018
Stuart Masters - Union Chapel & Elsewhere
Stuart's superb new live record is now available everywhere digitally. Big thanks to Stephen Foster at BBC Suffolk who made it his record of the week on his drive time show last week! Here's the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/4Lm19JDTNk39CxKqh2aQjz
Monday 28 May 2018
Friday 18 May 2018
Wednesday 2 May 2018
Johnny Butler HyperViolet on Spotify
The critically acclaimed HyperViolet by former Beyoncé arranger Johnny Butler is on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/0oQ1yzRwVuWgHKUUxP6WJV
Stuart Masters live! Union Chapel & Elsewhere
Coming soon - look out for pre-order info at hi4headrecords.com Union Chapel & Elsewhere, live performances
Dialogues at Cafe Oto - download the soundtrack
The soundtrack from Mark French's excellent film Dialogues at Café Oto can be downloaded from BandCamp https://trevorwatts.bandcamp.com/album/dialogues-at-cafe-oto
Monday 29 January 2018
Review of Closer to You by Amalgam in New York City Jazz Record Feb 2018
This is the text of Marc Medwin's excellent review:
Trevor Watts, who turns 79 this month, has been pushing at the geographical and formal boundaries of improvised music for more than half a century. To label him a formative force in the British improvised music scene would be to underestimate his importance. His reed playing has continued to be as multivalently energetic today as it was when he co-founded the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME) in the mid '60s. Putting together an absolutely astounding rhythm section is one of the things Watts does best. By 1978, when Closer to You was recorded, bassist Colin McKenzie and drummer Liam Genockey had gelled into a rock-solid hard-driving but hair-width subtle support system, all characteristics readily apparent on this expanded version of the album. 'Keep Right' wears its odd metrics lightly, bass and drums forming ever-tightening rings of intricacy around the jagged saxophone lines. Contrast that relatively brief bit of off-kilter dance with the weighty opening of the album's sustained high point, 'Dear Roland' where McKenzie orchestrates with a dazzling display of harmonics and Genockey punctuates with pithy pointillisms. Both spend much of the track's opening minutes coloring the swathes of silence separating the leader's multiple saxophone work, rendering the dedicatory title especially relevant by obvious but non-cliché references to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Watts' exhortations guide while never dictating, as in the high energy opener 'De Dublin Ting', where he launches into alto triplets as the rhythm section slams and grooves with alacrity. 'South of Nowhere's second half bristles with New Thing vigour largely thanks to Watts' high register runs. Energy music is evident on the best of the bonus tracks, the aptly titled 'Albert Like' bringing Archie Shepp phrasing into a mix peppered liberally with McKenzie's funky breaks. The album channels that nebulous beast then known as 'fusion' without calling too much attention to any one genre or style.
Trevor Watts, who turns 79 this month, has been pushing at the geographical and formal boundaries of improvised music for more than half a century. To label him a formative force in the British improvised music scene would be to underestimate his importance. His reed playing has continued to be as multivalently energetic today as it was when he co-founded the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME) in the mid '60s. Putting together an absolutely astounding rhythm section is one of the things Watts does best. By 1978, when Closer to You was recorded, bassist Colin McKenzie and drummer Liam Genockey had gelled into a rock-solid hard-driving but hair-width subtle support system, all characteristics readily apparent on this expanded version of the album. 'Keep Right' wears its odd metrics lightly, bass and drums forming ever-tightening rings of intricacy around the jagged saxophone lines. Contrast that relatively brief bit of off-kilter dance with the weighty opening of the album's sustained high point, 'Dear Roland' where McKenzie orchestrates with a dazzling display of harmonics and Genockey punctuates with pithy pointillisms. Both spend much of the track's opening minutes coloring the swathes of silence separating the leader's multiple saxophone work, rendering the dedicatory title especially relevant by obvious but non-cliché references to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Watts' exhortations guide while never dictating, as in the high energy opener 'De Dublin Ting', where he launches into alto triplets as the rhythm section slams and grooves with alacrity. 'South of Nowhere's second half bristles with New Thing vigour largely thanks to Watts' high register runs. Energy music is evident on the best of the bonus tracks, the aptly titled 'Albert Like' bringing Archie Shepp phrasing into a mix peppered liberally with McKenzie's funky breaks. The album channels that nebulous beast then known as 'fusion' without calling too much attention to any one genre or style.
Friday 5 January 2018
Amalgam - Closer to You available for download
Closer to You by Trevor Watts' Amalgam is available for download here: https://trevorwatts.bandcamp.com/
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