Paul Booth (tenor sax); Steve Hamilton (piano); Dave Whitford (bass); Andrew Bain (drums).
(Review by Lance)
Every so often a CD comes along that jumps the queue and this is just such a one. Booth, in his informative notes, describes the album as a conscious decision to go back to his roots as a tenor player. A decision he made whilst on various tours with Steve Winwood and others. These worldwide adventures brought him to many unusual and exotic places resulting in a series of musical portraits and landscapes.
Unlike so many original compositions where it takes a somewhat vivid stretch of the imagination to relate the tune to the title, here the two go together like Stanley and Livingstone or, better still, Stanley and Getz for Booth's sound has the lyricism of mid-period Getz when he recorded those albums with Eddie Sauter.
The Getz albums were with an orchestra, Booth does this with his quartet and the results are so effective that I'm listening with my eyes as well as my ears.
I can picture the rain in Seattle. A beautiful Seminole Native American. Chaotic scenes in Morocco. Coming home - there's no place like it! A glass of wine in Tuscany. The majesty of the Red Rocks in Colorado where the varying heights of the mountain peaks inspired notes and intervals. Byron Bay in New Zealand and, the only non-original, Peter Gabriel's Don't Give Up which Booth describes by saying, "Don't give up on the hard work it takes. The life you can live through music is the most fulfilling and rewarding life. Trust me, I'm living it now"
We trust you Paul - through this album we're living it with you!
Lance.
PS: Don't think for a moment that this is a one-man show. The contributions of Hamilton, Whitford and Bain are inestimable and contribute in equal measure.
Release date August 30 on Ubuntu Music UBU0034. Launch at Pizza Express, Soho, on August 27.
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