Colour Yes

About

Matthew Halsall, UK trumpeter and founder of Gondwana Records, took an opportunity to reissue his earliest recordings from 2009, <i>Sending My Love</i> and <i>Colour Yes</i>, finally achieving the mixing and mastering quality and cover art concept he’d hoped for. The two albums were thus reborn, in double-LP special editions. <i>Colour Yes</i> has certain echoes of <i>My Favorite Things</i>-era John Coltrane in the lilting jazz waltzes of “I’ve Found Joy” and the title track. The mood ranges from the exuberant swing of “Mudita” to the dark-as-night ballad “I’ve Been Here Before,” featuring chordal accompaniment from harpist Rachael Gladwin. The reissue adds the bonus tracks “It’s What We Do,” with Gladwin and bassist Gavin Barras’ gorgeous duo intro, and “Ai,” a sparse ballad showcase for the leader’s lyrical horn, Nat Birchall’s tenor saxophone, and Adam Fairhall’s piano. Some of these players will be familiar to fans of Halsall’s Gondwana Orchestra, which formed in subsequent years. The governing approach is stark and meditative with harmonies that hover, giving soloists room for melodic invention.

via Apple Music

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