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    The Cinematic Orchestra, the group formed by Jamie Swinscoe in 1999 have a similar production approach to 4hero, with Swinscoe in his twin roles of composer and studio technician using beats/samples and contributions from live musicians to assemble his creations. The result is a compelling and exquisitely crafted mix of downtempo electronica and jazz. This is ‘Diabolus’ from the debut album ‘Motion’ (1999), featuring Tom Chant soprano saxophone and piano, Phil France bass and T. Daniel Howard drums.
     

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      From The Cinematic Orchestra’s second album ‘Every Day’ this is ‘Man With The Movie Camera’, with Tom Chant soprano saxophone, Phil France bass and piano and DJ Food’s Patrick Carpenter eletronics/tuntables.
       

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        Another pair of studio whizz-kids were Swedish duo Oscar Simonsen and Magnus Zingmark aka Koop, who used guest vocalists and a few live instruments but for the most part painstakingly stitched together many hundreds of small samples to produce music that at times sounds like it could have come out of Blue Note in the mid-60's. This is ‘Summer Sun’ from the 1997 debut album ‘Waltz For Koop’, with vocalist Yukimi Nagano, E.S.T’s Dan Berglund bass, Magnus Lindgren saxophones/flute and Mattias Stahl vibraphone.
         

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          From that same album, this is ‘Modal Mile’, with Berglund, Lindgren, Stahl and vocalist Earl Zinger (the alter-ego of Galliano’s Rob Gallagher).
           

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            Originally posted by gjw100 View Post
            The Cinematic Orchestra, the group formed by Jamie Swinscoe in 1999 have a similar production approach to 4hero, with Swinscoe in his twin roles of composer and studio technician using beats/samples and contributions from live musicians to assemble his creations. The result is a compelling and exquisitely crafted mix of downtempo electronica and jazz. This is ‘Diabolus’ from the debut album ‘Motion’ (1999), featuring Tom Chant soprano saxophone and piano, Phil France bass and T. Daniel Howard drums.
            CO have probably made my favourite music of the last twenty years or so.. The sublime 'Every Day' remains my favourite album but each one is well worth hearing. There is - or at least used to be - full concert footage of a gig they did a few years ago at Sydney Opera House on youtube which begins with a sublime 'Burn Out' and is great throughout. Seen them a few times live and whilst there us a hell of a lot of talent in the ranks it's difficult to keep your eyes off the sensational drumming of Luke Flowers.
            Last edited by Tony C; 25-01-2021, 17:43.

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              Here it is, now in fragmented form.

              https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...WDQ2aGsix-Xdy5

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                That Sydney concert look's very interesting Tony. I shall try to find the time to watch it properly later this evening. I have a recording of their Roundhouse concert from a few months previously with a broadly similar set list - if it's as good as that it will be very good indeed. It saddens me that there are only 4 studio albums and a couple of film soundtracks to show for a 20-year career, when so many lesser talents seem to bring out an album every year. If it's any comfort, I should imagine that Jason Swinscoe earns a decent sum from TV royalties - I've lost count of the number of times I have heard a Cinematic Orchestra song used in a documentary or a drama.

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                  Yes, the wonderful 'All That You Give' from 'Every Day' was on the soundtrack of some drama I was watching a while ago (bringing the wonderful Fontella Bass out of retirement for great vocal performances like this was inspired by Swinscoe) and their work, as you say, has been used widely.

                  Last time I saw them live was Friday night at the No.6 Festival three or four years ago. They played on a lovely warm evening as the sun went down - which was fortunate as torrential rain and gales ruined the rest of the weekend.

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                    Sounding, appropriately enough, like something that Alice herself might have recorded back in the day, this is Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra’s 'Tribute To Alice Coltrane’ from the 2014 album ‘When The Word Was One’, with Matthew Halsall trumpet, Lisa Mallett flute, Nat Birchall saxophone, Taz Modi piano, Rachel Gladwin harp, Keiko Kitamura koto, Gavin Barras bass and Luke Flowers drums.
                     

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                      Tony C might appreciate this one - Matthew Halsall’s version of The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘Ode To The Big Sea’, recorded live at Maida Vale for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show.
                       

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                        Here’s a something from impressive young British band Mammal Hands, who have released four albums to date on Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Records. ‘Boreal Forest’ is taken from 2017’s ‘Shadow Work’, with Jordan Smart saxophone, Nick Smart piano and Jesse Barrett drums/tabla.
                         

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                          Originally posted by gjw100 View Post
                          Tony C might appreciate this one - Matthew Halsall’s version of The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘Ode To The Big Sea’, recorded live at Maida Vale for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show.
                          That is good.

                          As a Mancunian, Halsall is a musician whose work has been championed by local specialist radio shows and Piccadilly Records for years. To little avail commercially although I daresay he is respected in the jazz comminity. He used to have a monthly residence slot at the Band on the Wall venue in the city and I've seen him there. He's a talent.

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                            Released on the previously featured MPS label, this is ‘Why Is Mary So Nervous’ from the 1971 album ‘Call’ by the Michael Naura Quartett. Naura on electric piano, the great Eberhard Weber bass, Wolfgang Schluter vibraphone and Joe Nay drums.
                             

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                              Another from Naura, this time from his Quintet’s 1963 album ‘European Jazz Sounds’, a version of the Tubby Hayes classic ‘Down In The Village’, with Naura on piano, Peter Reinke alto saxophone, Wolfgang Schluter vibraphone, Wolfgang Luschert bass and Joe Nay drums. Which reminds me that I really must post something by Tubby Hayes.
                               

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                                British jazz in the 60’s didn’t suffer the quite the same problems with substance abuse as the US, although sadly there were still a few home-grown musicians prepared to give it a go. One of those was saxophonist Tubby Hayes, who was 38 when he died in 1973 of heart problems that were almost certainly attributable to his alcohol and heroin consumption. Hayes was a child prodigy, gigging and recording regularly by his late teens, and from the late 50’s through to the late-60's one of the leading players on the British scene. For such a short career at the top there’s a wealth of material out there, and due to the continued interest in the ‘Little Giant’, much of it has been released posthumously after being tracked down in record company archives or private collections. This is ‘The Sausage Scraper’ from his 1962 album ‘Late Spot At Scott’s’, recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s with Hayes on tenor saxophone, Jimmy Deuchar trumpet, Gordon Beck piano, Freddy Logan bass and Alan Ganley drums.
                                 

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                                  Recorded live for BBC2’s Jazz 625 in 1965 and introduced by Humphrey Lyttelton, this is the Tubby Hayes Quintet and Big Band, with ‘Suddenly Last Tuesday’. Tubby and trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar may look like a pair of bank managers, but boy could they play. This is as good as anything coming out of the US at the time.
                                   

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                                    https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/wh...-festival-hall

                                    May be of interest.

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                                      Without wishing to sound too obvious in.my recommendations I have spent the afternoon listening to Kamasi Washington's 'The Epic' and loving it all ovet again. Side 2 is utterly sublime and 'Leroy and Lanisha' is probably my favourite piece of music from the last decade.
                                      Last edited by Tony C; 28-01-2021, 16:31.

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                                        Yeah, that's a great album, Tony C. Apologies if you are already aware of him, but if you like Kamasi Washington, you should take a listen to Josef Leimberg's 'Astral Progressions' from 2016, which is very similar in scope and execution. Incidentally, Leimberg also contributed trumpet and vocals to Kendrick Lamarr's 'To Pimp A Butterfly'.

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                                          Some jazz-tinged neo soul and funk this morning. From the 2012 album ‘Tawk Tomahawk’, this is the joyous ‘Nakamarra’ by Australia’s Hiatus Kaiyote – Nai Palm vocals/guitar, Simon Mavin keyboards, Paul Bender bass and Perrin Moss drums/percussion.
                                           

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                                            Moonchild’s ‘Nobody’ from the 2014 album ‘Please Rewind’, released on the Brighton-based Tru Thoughts label. Featuring Amber Navran vocals, Andris Mattson keyboards/trumpet and Max Bryk keyboards/saxophones. If this doesn’t make you feel warm inside then you have no soul.
                                             

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                                              Flautist Bobbi Humphrey’s 1974 Blue Note album ‘Blacks And Blues’ was composed, arranged and produced by Larry Mizell, the man behind Donald Byrd’s very similar sounding ‘Black Byrd’ and ‘Street Lady’ albums. This is ‘Chicago, Damn’, with Fonce Mizell clavinet/trumpet, David T. Walker guitar, Jerry Peters electric piano, Fred Perron synthesizer, Chuck Rainey bass and Harvey Mason drums, with Larry & Fonce Mizell, Fred Perron and Bobbi Humhprey providing the vocals.
                                               

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                                                Bennie Maupin’s ‘A Promise Kept’ from the 1978 album ‘Moonscapes’, with Maupin on saxophones, bass clarinet and synthesizers, Bobby Lyle electric piano, Mike Sembello guitar, Derrick Youman vocals, Abe Laboriel bass, Harvey Mason drums and Mingo Lewis percussion. By 1978 Herbie Hancock had broken up the Headhunters and was taking his first steps towards a more commercial sound with his use of the vocoder and the release of ‘Sunlight’ that same year. ‘Moonscapes’ is probably the last album of that era to bear the imprint of the classic Headhunters sound, and Maupin wouldn’t release another album under his own name until 1998.
                                                 

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                                                  A couple of tracks from Billy Childs’ 2014 album ‘Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro’ which, as you might imagine, is a reworking of ten songs by the late Laura Nyro, who ought to need no introduction from me. This is ‘New York Tendaberry’, with Childs on piano, Renee Fleming vocals, Yo Yo Mar cello, Carol Robbins harp, Scott Colley bass, Brian Blade drums and a string section. There is an undeniable beauty in the simplicity of Nyro’s original songs that cannot be improved upon, but Childs’ lush arrangements are beautiful in a different way – not an improvement but something that can stand alongside them as a reminder of a great lost talent.
                                                   

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                                                    This is ‘The Confession’, with the same musicians as before, with Becca Stevens supplying the vocals and Dean Parks guitar.
                                                     

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