Ben Crosland paints pictures with his music and his passion for the things he loves shines through in every note he writes and plays. This, unashamedly (and not for the first time), is a love affair with Yorkshire; more specifically the North York Moors.
It’s a special place . . . breathtaking landscapes of beauty and tranquillity and expanses of unpolluted skies as broad as the sweeping heather moorland. The music here sweeps over you and listening to it, a feeling of calm and contentment can transport you to your own favourite place.
Those who know Ben’s music - A Dales Day, An Open Place (inspired by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Solway Stories (okay, we’re in Scotland here) and Wooltown Reflections (released to acclaim earlier this year) will know what to expect. Ben writes from the heart and you won’t be disappointed.
More than 40 years have elapsed since Crosland began playing jazz in earnest and over that time he’s led groups of differing sizes - from trios to octets - but all made up of some of the finest musicians in the country. Here, it’s a quintet with the two Steves (Waterman and Lodder) driving things along as only those who’ve absorbed a telepathic understanding of the composer’s thought processes can.
Like on Solway Stories, it’s good to have guitarist Chris Allard as part of the sonic mix, adding beautiful melodic playing, while Nic France shows once again why he’s one of our most in-demand drummers.
Says Crosland: “The 12 compositions are inspired by the beauty and majesty of the Moors and the surrounding countryside, the legends and characters that abound there, and some personal connections with this lovely area.” I’d say he nailed it. And then some!
The Optimist: This was the name of a new service introduced by the North York Moors preserved steam railway to entice passengers back to the line as Covid restrictions were eased; I can hear the wheels turning as the Quintet eases us into our musical journey and then there’s a euphoric brightness of better days ahead as Waterman opens the regulator to max.
North Sea Skies: The title track conjures up the vastness of the landscape; Lodder and Allard magnificently offer musical horizons that are tantalisingly just out of our reach.
Howardian Undulations: A driving tour de force, reflecting the dramatic rises and falls of the road through the Howardian Hills towards Castle Howard.
Ballad of Lilla Howe: An atmospheric piece, dark in places, and the first of three telling the stories of ancient monuments that make up the country’s largest collection of standing stones that the North York Moors possesses.
The Blakey Lions: The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge is one of my favourite pubs (I’ve always wanted to get snowed in here) and was where jazz-rock trio Back Door got their start; their debut album was released on their own Blakey Records (later picked upon by Warner Bros) en route to international acclaim.
George and Monty: Not two of Ben’s cats but dogs remembered by visits to Lastingham Grange, a country house hotel that became one of Ben’s, and his late mother’s, favourite places.
Breathing Space: Perhaps my favourite track and quite wonderful playing by Chris Allard. The North York Moors can let life’s worries and stresses slip away. This takes me there.
Fat Betty: Another of those monuments; a boundary marker that sits at the boundary of three dales. Ben Offers a reflective bass solo.
Purple Is The Colour: Mile upon mile of purple heather dominate the Moors through summer months; once seen never forgotten.
Vigilamus: The “golf balls’ of Fylingdales early warning station may no longer exist (replaced by a boring concrete slab-like structure) but I still “look” for them more than 30 years later as we head across from Pickering to Whitby. Vigilamus was the RAF station’s motto.
The View From Room Twelve: We’re back at Lastingham Grange and the room where Ben’s mum would always stay when they visited; a reflective piece that tells me everything I need to know about the view she enjoyed so much.
Ain Howe Farewell: The last of the standing stones draws the album to close; upbeat not melancholy, with Nic driving things along, but ensemble playing of the highest order.
Having celebrated his 75th birthday earlier this year, Ben Crosland’s creative juices are flowing more freely than ever. His second album of 2026 and an absolute triumph.
North York Skies is released on CD and digital download on August 7. A launch gig takes place at London’s 606 Club on September 22. Roy Woodcock
1 comment :
Excellent review of a great album by a wonderful composer, consistent throughout the years, and always working with an array of top class musicians.
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