This celebrated keyboard maestro has played all over the world and seen jazz and it's related forms twist and mutate. Marco's career has spanned the last four decades, encompassing full big band work, excursions into rare groove in the nineties that became so collectable on the London jazz scene, working with small groups and solo performances. His piano playing holds the album together, simultaneously leading and gluing the band together. Marcos fans are wide ranging and cover the globe, at the beginning of the eighties, after his debut gig at the Carnegie Hall in the USA Lucianno Pavarotti was so inspired he asked to write the sleeve notes an album. Not one to stay static he has been working with a collection of musicians who have been shaping the sound of modern jazz influenced music.
Nathan Haines has successfully straddled the divide between jazz and dance music, taking cues from his father (who played with the likes of Nat King Cole) he has covered a wide spectrum of music. His gigs at the Jazz Cafe in London are always sold out. Originally from New Zealand he moved to New York to further his career as a jazz musician, subsequently relocating to London to work with the likes of Goldie when drum and bass was in ascendance, he has since worked with the cream of house producers including Phil Asher, Osunlade, and Little Louis Vega, whilst managing to get the likes of Blue Note singer Marlena Shaw to guest on his most recent album. Robin Mullarkey has worked with Zero 7 and 4Hero delivering his liquid bass playing, here he has contributed both electric and double bass work. Pete Eckford has supplied his percussive knowledge to artists as diverse as Alison Limerick, Freak Power and Roberto Pla. Artists like 4Hero, Jill Scott, Chris Bowden, Kirk Degorgio (As One) and Nitin Sawhney have been using Andy Hammill's sensuous double bass for years.
The idea for this album was to let some of the younger generation of musicians who have become best known for their work on jazz related projects to flex their muscles on a fully fledged jazz album, under the tutelage of a seasoned professional. It features new compositions developed by the artists involved in the sessions. As with any improvised venture, echoes of the past occasionally emerge, Marco's classic 'Par Avion' is revisited. Many of the tracks are aimed squarely at the Jazzcotech, for the boys immaculately dressed in spats doing flips off the wall, this is serious jazz dance music. The vibrancy and energy expressed is phenomenal, making sitting motionless a physical impossibility. Much of the album has the vitality and exuberance of the heyday of Blue Notes output, essential dancefloor fillers that have stood the test of time. Latin elements such as bossa percussion and drums are fused with insatiable jazz grooves to set hips gyrating and feet into fancy flutters of energy.
The samba and waltz tracks are also offset by deep contemplative tracks, which pull off the outer layers of the musicians and express their soul. Marco's spritely keys show how he has not given up his sense of youth and vitality, whilst Carlos' drumming is delicate and supportive of those around him, the abounding confidence of Nathan's breath is offset by a sense of melancholy. When Pete applies his percussive magic it can feel as if a rainforest has just emerged from the speakers, his organic polyrhythms playfully interact with the drummer.
Created over one long weekend in October, the project is testament to the creativity and professionalism of all concerned. Whilst some of the tracks had been composed in advance it was amazing how quickly the arrangements were decided and executed. Much of the album is the sound of the musicians communicating with each other, their deft glances to each other in the studio added nuance and cadence to the music that are rarely found, and often impossible to create in modern sequenced productions. Most of the dialogue between the players is musical though
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