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Tuesday,
December, 29,
2009

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Colour Yes - Matthew Halsall

Matthew Halsall sets the tone for jazz in 2009. This is music to chill with a loved one to, an early morning ipod journey to work soundtrack, or the score to a jazz dance in a little basement dive

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Halsall’s second album is a short, understated thing of beauty. Not just one of the jazz albums of the year, it is one of the best albums of the year full stop. The patronage of Radio One guru Gilles Peterson is testament enough to the man’s talent.

The album evokes memory of a soulful Coltrane. On Colour Yes you can almost hear the soft ‘Trane like cry, pitter patter of Elvin Jones’s drums and the subtlety of McCoy Tyner on piano. Praise enough. This is far from a retro looking album though; a modern, progressive jazz slant is omnipresent throughout.

All six tracks are highlights in themselves, though special mention should be given to Together, where soothing, ambient tones and a sombre saxophone are lifted by the serene harp playing of Rachael Gladwin.

‘I’ve Found Joy’ and ‘Mudita’ will find an immediate audience with the (burgeoning) jazz dance community, seemingly mixing elements of modern Japanese club jazz (thankfully more early UFO than Soil and Pimp) and classic Sixties British jazz dance.

Halsall has assembled an accomplished band who are excellent throughout - Adam Fairhall on piano in particular shines. Like Robert Glasper, Halsall is taking jazz to a new audience but also retaining a core jazz audience and giving them something very different but with respect to the tradition.

An excellent album from an artist who is taking jazz to new territories and to a new audience — this should be an immediate purchase.



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