2007-08-18 12:14:00

Song of Praise Live! has just been released on the Babel Label - Billy's first release for over two years.

Recorded very live and dangerous off the desk last autumn, it offers a 'forward thinking retrospective collection'. Jazz funk, free form danger, corny pop tunes and serious political work all wrapped up with a blanket of blues....

Musicians on the recording are:

Billy Jenkins - guitar, shouting and singing
Nathaniel Facey - alto saxophone
Dylan Bates - violin
Gail Brand – trombone
Oren Marshall - tuba
Charles Hayward – drums

This is real live music making in the raw. And you’re hearing it from within the mixing desk. For the live sound engineer for The Wardrobe, Martin Hudson didn’t know on the night of this concert on 11th October 2006 that his artistry too, would be documented on CD.

Thus, the sound you hear is mercifully far away from the safe, manicured and over produced blandness that makes up most recordings these days.

Everything is inside out. Because Mr Hudson was mixing for the room, the drums are slightly down in the PA mix, here and there a quiet violin becomes overloud. It’s Billy’s take on compression – where loud becomes soft and soft is turned into loud. But it’s of the time, for and with the music.

There’s a method in Billy’s recording madness, but it works. He previously used this ‘closed miked voyeuristic upside down inside out aural experience’ on ‘Mayfest ‘94’, recorded live in Glasgow and released by Babel in 1995.

Don't forget, by purchasing one of Billy's recordings, you'll be helping him continue his life's work!

AVAILABLE HERE AND NOW AT JAZZCDS!