25 July 2011
Stuart McCallum, the favourite guitar-playing son of the Manchester contemporary jazz scene, premieres his new album Distilled for the Manchester Jazz Festival.
Best known as the guitarist in Cinematic Orchestra, the distinctive, ethereal and atmospheric sound of McCallum's guitar, is now at the heart of a 16-piece ensemble, conducted by Ben Cottrell (recently praised for his orchestral arrangements for Mercury Prize nominated Everything Everything and his own jazz ensemble Beats & Pieces) consisting of drums, percussion, bass, harp, strings, double bass and woodwind.
The premiere, performed in the Royal Northern College of Music's Theatre as a feature of MJF, will also treat the audience to a special visual show from Linder, a radical feminist photographer and artist, best known for her iconic artwork for The Buzzcocks debut single ‘Orgasm Addict'.
McCallum's latest solo effort Distilled, his first for new home Naim Label, revolves around the ‘distillation' of Stuart's many musical ideas and far-flung influences, from the trad to the leftfield, the electro to the acoustic, the improvised to the composed.
Far more than a traditional jazz or neo-classical ensemble, the use of technology in Distilled, be it looped instruments, programmed synthesis or the soothing ambience of guitar effects, takes McCallum's music to unique uncharted soundscapes, that are in equal part performance, composition and improvisation.
Find more information about the Manchester Jazz Festival premier here.
Distilled is released on October 3rd 2011.