New album – Works 1985–2025
Free to listen on this website – go to the Listen button below (or can a smart speaker find it?…).
This album features both solo and ensemble recordings from the last 40 years. There’s an aesthetic cohesion to the collection, and I would define that aesthetic with one word from the music lexicon: jazz.
At Home With Devon – an original composition recorded at Berklee College of Music in the spring of 1987, featuring Donny McCaslin and Igor Butman on soprano and tenor saxophones respectively. These two duelling saxophonists are joined by Bruno Destrez on bass, Steve Mushrush on guitar, and the mighty Jim Black on drums.
Sweet Bird by Joni Mitchell was recorded in March 2025 at the rehearsal/sound check for Köln 50 at Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen.
Dolphin Dance – a modern jazz composition of eternal perfection by modern jazz piano grandmaster Herbie Hancock. Featuring Fulvio Sigurtà on flugelhorn, Steve Rose on bass, and Winston Clifford on drums. Recorded at the St James Studio, April 2014.
A House Is Not a Home – a fly-on-the-wall recording which captures some exploratory playing on Bacharach’s ballad masterpiece. Recorded October 2022 on artist Tim Maguire’s Yamaha C3 in south-west France.
Jealous Guy – there are many things I like about this recording, but it’s IP’s snare sound that clinches it for me (big respect to Jon Wilkinson and The Steam Room). Featuring Max de Wardener on bass and Iain Pattinson on drums. Recorded October 2003.
Snow – dedicated to the remarkable theatre-maker Nancy Duguid. This piece is used in Melanie Chaïte’s exceptionally beautiful and necessary film, Dance Me to the End of Time, about Nancy Duguid and Silent Spring author Rachel Carson. Recorded September 1999.
Summertime – an example of the somewhat controversial practice of publicly reproducing ‘note-for-note’ solos. (I would estimate, taking into account the entire trio, the ratio must be closer to 1:5.) For me, a reproduction of a Bill Evans performance confirms and enhances his genius: tasteful, sophisticated, immaculate, and original. Recorded live at The Space, May 2007, featuring Tom Herbert on bass and Pat Levett on drums.
Chanting – part of a triptych of free improvisations with church-organ pedal accompaniment. The sound of the church itself is very present. With Max de Wardener on the pedals (played kneeling down with arms and hands!). Recorded September 1999.
My Foolish Heart – A recording taken from the same performance as Summertime. A gig paying homage to 20c. musical giant Bill Evans.
Bebo – an early original captured in this live recording during a BCM recital in the autumn of 1990. Featuring Dan Bosshardt on baritone saxophone, Geoff Garland on guitar, Don Corey on electric bass, and Dan Wall on drums.
Small Things – an original recorded in June 1985 in a small studio in Foubert’s Place, Soho, London – not far from the legendary Trident Studios! Featuring the mercurial Hawi Gondwe on guitar, Mark Meggido on electric bass, and Dan Simmons on drums.
Rootdown – absolute, deep funk from the pen of Hammond master Jimmy Smith. Recorded on my Rhodes 54 with sound-meister Sagat Guirey on guitar, Michael Bailey on electric bass, and the immaculate Richard Spaven on drums. Recorded by Sagat in his studio just off the Harrow Road. Recorded April 2010.
Linus and Lucy – from the same session as Rootdown, a reimagined homage to the beautiful Vince Guaraldi Trio. Their sound – and his compositions and playing on the Charlie Brown animations from the ’60s – is everlasting magic: humble, honest, and practical.
Confirmation – Charlie Parker! What can we say?… Featuring one of the great legends of the London bass scene, Mario Castronari, with Tom Tlalim on guitar and Álvaro Lopez on drums. Recorded June 2024 outside in the grounds of the Highgate Wood Pavilion.