Trish Clowes - A View with a Room (April 22, 2022 Greenleaf Music)

‘A View with a Room’ is the fourth release by saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes and her acclaimed band My Iris, an intense and thrilling quartet that represents the front rank of the contemporary UK jazz scene. Lauded for her imaginative approach to improvisation and composition, Clowes provides her bandmates Ross Stanley (piano/Hammond organ), Chris Montague (guitar) and James Maddren (drums) with a unique platform for individual expression, delivering driving grooves and lingering melodic lines, seamlessly morphing between earthy restlessness and futuristic dreamscapes.

Most of the repertoire came together during the pandemic for various livestream events, Clowes writing a new tune for each precious playing opportunity. Many of the tracks make direct reference to issues created and exacerbated by the global pandemic, commenting on personal loss and creativity as solace, the climate crisis, and the ever-growing migrant crisis. The title track suggests a surreal, and yet strangely relatable concept, forced upon much of the world during these deeply isolating times. "The Ness" is inspired by sounds and images from a Scottish coastline by filmmaker / collaborator Rose Hendry. “Amber" is for Amber Bauer, CEO of Donate4Refugees (a charity Clowes is an ambassador for), reflecting her energy and dynamism. “Ayana" is dedicated to Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, an inspiring writer, marine biologist and policy expert, who speaks clearly and positively on the issues of climate change. Creative music for and of our times.

1. A View with a Room

2. The Ness

3. Amber

4. Morning Song

5. No Idea

6. Ayana

7. Time

8. Almost

Trish Clowes - tenor & soprano saxophones

Chris Montague - guitar

Ross Stanley - piano, Rhodes & Hammond organ

James Maddren - drums

Production Credits:

Executive Producer: Dave Douglas

Producer: MY IRIS

Recorded at Livingston Studios (Studio 1) in London, England on August 31st & September 1st, 2021

Recording engineer: Darren Jones

Assistant recording engineer: Luke Farnell

Mixing and mastering engineer: Chris Kelly

Cover Photography: Rose Hendry

Studio photography: Chris Kelly

Graphic designer: Lukas Frei

All compositions by Trish Clowes (PRS)

Trish is a Vandoren UK artist, using Vandoren reeds and ligatures

PRE-ORDER

Trish Clowes - My Iris (BASHO RECORDS 2017)

‘My Iris’ is a new project from BASCA award winning composer and saxophonist Trish Clowes. Following collaborations with string quartets and the BBC Concert Orchestra, My Iris shifts Clowes’ perspective to the possibilities of a small ensemble. With Chris Montague on guitar, Ross Stanley on piano and Hammond organ and James Maddren on drums, My Iris explores startling melodies, earthy grooves and gnarly lines, creating a sound world that is both intimate and thrilling. The ensemble has honed these musical concepts in major performances including the Women in (e)Motion Festival for Radio Bremen, the Deal Festival and at the Southbank Centre. The group’s first recording, Clowes’ fourth album for Basho Records, will be released on 13th January 2017 with accompanying tour dates across the country.

The album includes Muted Lines by Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian - commissioned by Clowes with support from the PRS for Music Foundation - and Clowes’ sister piece Tap Dance (For Baby Dodds). The works share a theme of migration, in particular forced migration; Muted Lines addresses loss and silence from the perspective of Cevanne’s Armenian heritage and features a 16th Century poem by Nahapet Kuchak. Tap Dance is built upon fragments of a Baby Dodds drum solo, celebrating the birth of the drum set and its central role in the music of the African diaspora. Blue Calm evokes the multifaceted Iris, messenger to the Greek and Roman gods, and One Hour imagines the additional hour of dreaming and brain repair afforded when the clocks go back. In Between The Moss and Ivy is Clowes’ ballad of an English garden, Be A Glow Worm responds to some gnomic advice from a wise musician and A Cat Called Behemoth acts as a sequel to Clowes’ earlier Mikhail Bulgakov-inspired piece ‘The Master and Margarita’. In addition to Clowes’ thoughtful writing, the group also explore dynamics, textures, exciting interaction and fiery improvisation. ‘My Iris’ represents a new chapter in Clowes’ career and is her most assured album to date.

REVIEWS

16/01/2017 Jazzwise

a poise and depth that is rewarding

12/01/2017 Irish Times 4 stars ****

the front rank of the new generation of UK jazz

12/01/2017 John Fordham, The Guardian 4 stars****

Clowes’s emphasis on composition, and the reserved evenness of her delivery often get her a “chamber-jazz” label, but the Englishwoman’s quirky songwriter’s ear, subtly sleepy tenor sax sound and bright intensity on soprano are anything but cerebral.

11/01/2017 Matthew Wright, The Arts Desk

'To achieve that range of sounds with a jazz quartet requires rare skill. How much other contemporary music has such adventurous or eclectic intellectual horizons?'

04/01/2017 Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3 Late Junction

“ A stunning new album which proves firmly thatTrish Clowes is one of the core artists on the British jazz and contemporary scene”

19/12/2016 Stephen Graham, Marlbank

One Hour  7:20

Blue Calm 6.28

I Can't Find My Other Brush 7.00

A Cat Called Behemoth 7:30

Muted Lines 6:28

Tap Dance (for Baby Dodds) 5:41

In Between The Moss And Ivy 6:26

Be A Glow Worm 4:21

Trish Clowes – saxes

Chris Montague – guitar

Ross Stanley – piano / Hammond organ

James Maddren – drums