Having seen this band a number of times live and being a big fan it was with some excitement and trepidation when I placed their inaugural CD Mixed with Glass into the player. I needn’t have worried within just a few bars I knew this album was a winner and that it was going to deliver the musical experience I had hoped for.
The CD was recorded over a weekend in October on the New Jazz and Improvised Recordings label partially set up to compensate for the cancellation of the 2020 Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.
Shades of the greats could be found in several of the pieces - Rollins in Plato, Coleman in Mish a Miner, electronic Miles in Mixed With Glass. All the musicians perform marvellously both within the ensemble and with solo jewels throughout. The seldom heard clarinet within contemporary jazz provides a refreshing treat whenever MacCalman features it.
Listening to this album gave me the feel of being at a wild fun fair. Neon lights, Wurlitzers, the big wheel, dodgems and crazy clowns. Happiness and mayhem going off at all angles. However, interspersed among the rollicking driven tracks are a couple of ballads to calm things down - the title track Mixed With Glass and the cinematic Ellingtonesque piece Beautiful Pink (Is Not Ugly) . The album concludes with Country Bears, Come North a slow burner which grows into a most uplifting finale leaving the listener completely fulfilled.
This is a not a great first album it is just simply a great album full stop.
Steve H
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