Gabrielle Ducomble - Les chansons de la Brasserie (April 22, 2022)

Now a firm favourite in her adopted UK, talented vocalist Gabrielle Ducomble brings a special blend of Gallic charm and sophistication to the British jazz scene.

Singing in English and her native French, Gabrielle performs Parisian-style jazz and tango, putting a contemporary spin on songs by Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg and Astor Piazzolla, plus her own original material.

1. Je M'en Fous Pas Mal

2. Les Champs-Élysées

3. La Bicyclette

4. Ménilmontant

5. Syracuse

6. Mon Homme

7. Paroles, Paroles

8. Les Amants D'un Jour

9. Rimes

10. Mon Manège à Moi

Gabrielle Ducomble - Vocals

Rob Updegraff - Guitar

Ben Hazleton - Double Bass

Richard Jones - Violin on Tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

Dave Shulman - Clarinet on Tracks 1, 3, 7, 10

Recorded at Slipway Studio Richmond in September 2021

Sound Engineer: Simone Filiali

Mixing and mastering: Simone Filiali

Photography: Michael Garrett

Album release April 22, 2022

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Nishla Smith - Friends With Monsters (November 12, 2021 Whirlwind Recordings)

Singer Nishla Smith creates vivid, enigmatic stories through sound, her voice stretching from melancholic sweetness through to dark intimacy. Her debut album 'Friends with Monsters' confirms Smith as a major new vocal talent in the UK, and sees the vocalist’s affinity for inventive narratives extended over the span of a full album. The Australian performer travelled via Berlin to eventually settle in Manchester, and is joined here by some of the city’s most talented improvisers. Richard Jones and Johnny Hunter cover piano and drums respectively, whilst bassist Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley and trumpeter Aaron Wood add graceful touches to complete the quintet’s intimate feel. Smith’s depictions of night-time have an enigmatic quality, inviting listeners on an atmospheric journey but all the while pointing to something greater.

A City Music Foundation artist, she has received commissions from Manchester Collective and Opera North, as well as Manchester Jazz Festival and Jazz North. As co-creator of theatre company Ulita, she also creates collaborative pieces that blend theatre, music and visual arts. Friends with Monsters continues that theatrical drive – “I'm a very natural storyteller, I just love to tell stories. I find myself weaving everyday events into tales that are very narratively pleasing.”

Set over the course of a single evening, 'Friends with Monsters' explores changing states of insomnia, informed by Smith’s own sleepless nights. It’s realised in four distinct sections; each is introduced by a scene-setting interlude. Smith shares one of those duets – ‘Twilight’ – with Jones to begin the night, an opener that floats tranquilly towards the title track. “‘Friends with Monsters’ is the central metaphor of the album,” says Smith. “It's about my inability to sleep, but it’s also about those things that haunt you, and yet have become part of you. You can’t imagine who you'd be without them.” In these gaps, Smith adds considerable emotional candour, as night-time slowly becomes a place where the most complex of emotions can roam free.

‘Julian’ grapples with affirming the future in the midst of loss, opening with Wood at his most harrowed. The clock ticks to ‘Midnight’ with Cavanagh-Brierley’s nocturne, a lullaby that could be of Birdland. ‘Home’ and ‘Starlight’ give chance for reflection – the first “a feeling of peace with the person you belong with”; the second tries to recapture the vibrant memories of childhood, knowing they’re ultimately rose-tinted. ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ showcases Smith’s interpretive skill, offering a dreamy, up-tempo take on the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic inspired by memories of her grandmother. As daybreak beckons, the album continues its positive turn through the chilled out bossa ‘I Want To Make You Happy’, before reaching sunrise with ‘Dawn’. The night-walk concludes with the quietly inspiring ‘Up’, written whilst on holiday and embodying “the child-like feeling of being happy and free.” Smith wants first-time listeners to find the album’s subtle emotional range: “I want them to feel things with me.”  Delving deeper into the dreamy world of Smith’s storyland rewards greatly.

1. Twilight

2. Friends with Monsters

3. Julian

4. Midnight

5. Home

6. Starlight

7. 3 AM

8. It Might As wll Be Spring

9. I Want You To Be Happy

10. Dawn

11. Up

Nishla Smith - voice

Aaron Wood - trumpet & flugelhorn

Richard Jones - piano

Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley - bass

Johnny Hunter - drums & percussion

ecorded at Giant Wafer Studios, Wales

Recorded & mixed by Alex Killpartrick

Mastered by Tyler McDiarmid

Produced by Chris Hyson & Nishla Smith

Executive Producer - Michael Janisch

Photography - Robin Clewley

‘Julian’ artwork by Luca Shaw

Graphic Design - Becky McGillivray & Dave Bush

All songs by Nishla Smith except

‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ - Rodgers & Hammerstein

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Emma Johnson's Gravy Boat - Worry Not (July 2021)

Worry Not is the debut from Leeds based cinematic quintet, Emma Johnson's Gravy Boat.

Emma's writing is inspired by cinematic scores as well as a wide range of jazz from hard bop to modern tenor/guitar led quintets, and this combines to create compositions that evoke imagery and emotions for the listener. The album combines strong melodies with improvised sections that give each member of the group space to shine.

As an album, Worry Not tackles themes of stress and worry and the process of overcoming those things to find a sense of calm. The imagery uses a lake setting and various weathers as a parallel to the coming and going of these emotions and the whole album is a cathartic listening experience, inspired by a place where Emma is at her most worry-free.

Written after a house flood and on the brink of the pandemic, the album (and the year awaiting it's creation) encapsulate a process of having worries, acknowledging and dealing with them, and allowing them to wash away.

Worry Not is produced with thanks to Help Musicians, the Peter Whittingham Award and a whole host of brilliant Kickstarter backers.

1. Setting Sail

2. Vertical Planes

3. Fully Fledged

4. Interlude

5. Waterlogged

6. Hold Me Tight

7. Worry Not

8. Sun Stones

Saxophone & Compositions - Emma Johnson

Electric Guitar - Fergus Vickers

Piano - Richard Jones

Double Bass - Angus Milne

Drums - Steve Hanley

Tracks 1-7 Recorded by George Atkins at 80 Hertz Studios

Track 8 Recorded by Barkley McKay at Valley Wood Studios

Mixing Engineer - Tom Orrell

Mastering Engineer - Tim Thomas

Printing - Pure Music

Artwork - Or8 Design

Pre-order

Beats & Pieces Big Band - ten (EFPI RECORDS 2018)

On 27 January 2008 I asked thirteen friends and fellow students to a rehearsal room at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music to play through some tunes I'd written for big band. From that session, Beats & Pieces Big Band emerged. Exactly ten years on from that first meeting, we invited an audience of friends, family and key supporters to the same RNCM rehearsal space for a special anniversary gig, documented here. On behalf of all the Beats & Pieces musicians past and present, thanks for a fun first ten years; we hope there'll be many more to come. 

Ben Cottrell

Ben Cottrell : director

Anthony Brown, Oliver Dover, Tom Ward : saxophones

Richard Foote, Simon Lodge, Rich Mcveigh : trombone

Owen Bryce, Graham South, Nick Walters : trumpet/flugelhorn

Anton Hunter : guitar

Richard Jones : piano/Rhodes

Stewart Wilson : bass

Finlay Panter : drums

produced by Ben Cottrell

recorded by Garry Boyle and Phil Gregory

mixed by Garry Boyle at Slate Room Studio, Pencaitland

mastered by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound, Pencaitland

film produced by BLOC+BLUR Creative Studio

directed by Louise Cowley

cinematography by Esther Vardy

edited by Karl Dixon

filmed by Esther Vardy, Louise Cowley and Karl Dixon

assisted by Ashleigh Duke

lighting design by Ash Ennever

artwork and design by Alexander Rennie

all tracks composed and arranged by Ben Cottrell

except ‘time’ - composed by Finlay Panter, arranged by Ben Cottrell

recorded and filmed live in Studio One, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester on 27 January 2018

1. nois 07:11

2. jazzwalk 05:35

3. three 06:14

4. rain 06:54

5. time 08:04

6. broken 09:46

7. pop 05:16

8. toan 08:50

9. banger 06:12

10. hendo 06:27