2012-06-20 12:13:28

Tony Woods and I have been collaborating around gigs at WayOutWest and dueted on some recordings we made in St Cyprians Church Marylebone since a while back.

The album is an expression of our friendship, understanding and admiration of each other's work, and I think the recording reveals some close reading of each other's playing, making it, I hope, an absorbing listening experience, whether its on my arrangement of the folk/roots classic Blackwaterside, on a loose and relaxed interpretation of standards like My Romance, or on the headlong roar of Tony's Rowing Blues.

Some of the tunes, like my "Underlined", were written especially for this piano-less, guitarless, line-up where the horns and the bass of the wonderfully articulate Patrick Bettison sketch out the harmony in turns. Milo Fell's groovy and witty commentary on the drums and percussion completes the intimacy we shared on these recording sessions.

You can check out a review in the Guardian 22.6.12 edition.