London Jazz News’ Graham Spry gives a big thumbs up to the partners’ second release on Ubuntu Music.
Ubuntu Music Announces The Release of Dave O’Higgins & Rob Luft’s Second Album
O’Higgins & Luft / Pluto
Release date: 4th November 2022
CD & Digital Formats / UBU0126
Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the upcoming release of Pluto, from the exceptionally talented pairing of O’Higgins & Luft, on 4th November 2022.
Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins and guitarist Rob Luft present their second co-led recording, three years after “O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane”. Where the first album clearly did what it says on the tin, Pluto, as the title suggests, comes from another place. Seven of the nine songs are original compositions by each band leader, and the remaining two pieces are Monk and Coltrane hits that evolved naturally on the road during a 50 date European tour in 2019.
Dave O’Higgins and Rob Luft (Photographer: Judith O’Higgins)
The sonority has changed a little, too, as the Hammond organ of the first album is replaced with acoustic piano and double bass. This is straight-ahead modern jazz in the African-American tradition, clearly coming from the Monk and Trane lineage, but not bound to emulating it. You will hear Luft easily morphing Wes Montgomery with Bill Frisell, his own trademark soundscapes and worldly influences, while O’Higgins’ emotive melodies evoke Dexter, Trane, Joe Henderson and Brecker, with a melodic logic of his own.
In addition to these extremely talented co-leaders, the band includes an all-star line-up consisting of:
Ross Stanley / piano
Misha Mullov-Abbado / bass
Rod Youngs / drums
Rob and Dave describe the latest project in their own words. Rob begins: "I'm so happy to be working with the great Dave O'Higgins on this second collaborative effort. Whilst the banner of O'Higgins & Luft might somewhat resemble the name of a lawyer's firm, it actually represents an incredibly fruitful artistic collaboration over the past five years! Working with Dave has helped me remain firmly grounded to the swinging roots of jazz, with our frontline blend of tenor sax and guitar clearly coming out of the hard-bop tradition, echoing the sound-world of Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane, Grant Green & Joe Henderson, or George Benson & Stanley Turrentine."
And Dave continues: "The second collaboration with Rob was a very natural progression from the ‘Plays Monk & Trane’ album. We wanted to make our own compositional mark, whilst maintaining the straight-ahead orientation, and drawing from our extensive 2019 touring experience together with 50 shows. The process was incredibly quick, easy and natural once we’d got our dates aligned!"
Left to right: Rob Luft, Rod Youngs, Dave O’Higgins (Photographer: Monika S Jakubowska)
Concerning their continued relationship with Ubuntu Music, Rob shares his perspective: "Working with the team at Ubuntu Music is always a joy and a total privilege for me. I've been involved both as a sideman and a leader over the past few years with this label, and it now feels like a kind of extended family to me! I can only offer my gratitude to Martin for believing so resolutely in our music."
And Dave picks up where Rob left off: "It’s always a pleasure to do a project with Martin for Ubuntu. When I call him up he always says, “yes, that sounds great, let’s do it!”, so I hope to repay the faith! The Ubuntu roster is a nice eclectic place to be. I’m very proud to be on the label."
Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, concludes: “What can I possibly say about these two guys that hasn’t been said before? Each is at the pinnacle of his respective professional career. The rhythm section is as good as it gets. You put this all together and you have an unbeatable collection of musicians who have deep respect for the jazz masters, but which is expressed in their own distinctive voices. ‘Pluto’ an irresistible audio cocktail for the senses. We are absolutely honoured to have Dave and Rob continue within our Ubuntu Music Family.”
For further information, please contact:
Dave O’Higgins (Artist) ohig@mac.com
Rob Luft (Artist) rob.jazz@live.com
Emma Perry (UK Publicity) emmasarahperry@gmail.com
Martin Hummel/Ubuntu Music (Worldwide): martin@ubuntumanagementgroup.com
BIOGRAPHIES
Dave O’Higgins
Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins 24th album as leader Pluto (Ubuntu 2022) is just about to be released. The last Ubuntu release That’s the Way to Live (2021) has had great reviews in the Observer, Jazzwise, BBC Magazine and many online jazz sites. In 2017 It’s Always 9:30 in Zog was nominated for best CD (British Jazz Awards) and Dave for best tenor saxophonist. O’Higgins & Luft were nominated for best band in 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Dave serves on the faculty at the London College of Contemporary Media. He currently performs with the Harvey / O’Higgins Project, O’Higgins & Luft, Darius Brubeck Quartet, and the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra. In addition, Dave worked with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Joey Calderazzo, Joe Locke, Dave Kikowski, Eric Alexander, Max Ionata, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Nancy Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gomez, Billy Childs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jim Mullen, Martin Taylor and Stephane Grappelli. Dave also wrote and produced the 2017 Matt Bianco album, Gravity, and tours with the band as saxophonist and musical director.
Dave’s saxophone sound and language draw from deep respect for Dexter, Stitt, Coltrane, Mobley, Turrentine and Brecker amongst a host of other inspirations from early on to the present day.
“A stunning player in the neo-bop vein, with an apparently effortless flow of coherent ideas, beautiful time and a highly developed harmonic sense.”
--JAZZ GUIDE (UK)
“His professional presentation was an object lesson to the amateurishness of local players. His musicianship seemed boundless. Like his friend Martin Taylor did last year to our guitarists, Dave O’Higgins did to our sax players – gave them new and exciting challenges. And gave us mere listeners an exceptional night.”
--ADELAIDE ADVERTISER, AUSTRALIA
“O’Higgins plays with quite exceptional fluency and his fund of ideas never runs out.”
--THE OBSERVER (UK)
Rob Luft
Rob is an award-winning 28-year-old jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia.
He was the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from the Royal Academy of Music, and he also received the 2nd Prize in the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at Montreux Jazz Festival, adjudicated by John McLaughlin himself. His debut album was released to widespread acclaim from the European jazz media, with The Guardian describing it as a “very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”. Subsequently, on the back of the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – Breakthrough Act in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards. In May 2019, Rob was selected as a BBC New Generation Jazz Artist 2019-2022. Amongst the intermittent global lockdowns of 2020, Rob made his debut appearance on the famed German jazz label ECM Records with the album “Lost Ships, a collaborative effort with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, and this was nominated in the ‘International Album of the Year’ category in the 2021 German Jazz Prize.
Despite his relative youth, Rob has worked with many greats of the jazz world, such as Manu Katché, The Cinematic Orchestra, Django Bates & Arve Henriksen, and he is a regular member of some of the UK's finest modern jazz groups, such as the John Surman Quartet, the Iain Ballamy Quintet and Byron Wallen’s “Four Corners”, Additionally, his playing has been documented on a wide variety of albums over the past five years on important jazz labels such as ECM Records, Edition Records, Ropeadope, and many more.
"...a singular talent, a fluent improviser and a composer of catchy, earthy, infectiously upbeat tunes. There are echoes of west African high-life, English folk, indie rock and various strands of contemporary jazz, but Luft’s sound is joyously original, robust and in-your-face..." THE ---IRISH TIMES (IRE)
“So young and so talented!”
--JAMIE CULLUM, BBC RADIO 2 (UK)
"Luft's style is a garden of heavenly delights, but it is also his own: once heard, you won't confuse him with any other player."
--ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)
https://robluft.co.uk/
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Ubuntu Music to Release Sax Titan Paul Booth’s Next Album: 44
Paul Booth / 44
15th April 2022
CD & Digital Formats / UBU0112
Paul Booth (Photographer: Monika S Jakubowska)
Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the extension of its relationship with Paul Booth, the wonderfully talented saxophonist, for the release of his next album, aptly titled 44, on 15th April 2022 (his birthday).
From his early acclaim as a prize-winning saxophonist, Paul has continually refined and expanded his talents as a solo artist, composer, arranger and bandleader, whilst establishing an elite reputation as a first-call sideman for major contemporary music artists.
Paul’s ability to blend into any musical surrounding coupled with his talents as a multi-instrumentalist has led to him being regularly chosen to perform with many well-known artists. Paul has toured, performed & recorded around the world with The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers Band, Bonnie Raitt, Chaka Khan, Kylie Minogue, Jamiroquai, Gregory Porter, Barry Manilow, Warren Haynes, Marti Pellow, Derek Trucks, Eddie Henderson, Geoffrey Keezer, Clarence Penn and Ingrid Jensen. He has worked with Incognito, Brand New Heavies, The BBC Big Band, Michael Janisch Quintet, the Ryan Quigley Quintet and so many more.
Paul Booth (Photographer: Monika S Jakubowska)
For his next release, Paul celebrates his 44 years on mother earth with the aggregation of two stellar quartets (hence the number 44) in featuring primarily Paul’s own compositions. Paul explains:
“Following on from my album ‘Trilateral’, recorded when I was 33 years old, 11 years later I thought ‘why not carry on with a theme’. My good friend Andrew Bain (also one of the drummers on this album) suggested recording a double quartet album, with both quartets playing at the same time.”
In terms of shaping the music for the album, Paul elaborates:
“I loved the challenge of writing for this double quartet, especially when it came to figuring out how I was going to use two bass players. We recorded five originals, two freely improvised pieces which in my opinion really show how these exceptional musicians listen to one another and finally a new take on Miles’ ‘Four’. In choosing the musicians who appear on this album, I wanted to have a combination of some of my long-standing friends/collaborators and some of the younger musicians from the UK jazz scene who have really impressed me. I’m extremely proud of this whole ensemble and the music we created in one afternoon and ‘live’ in one room.”
The double-quartet line-up consists of a broad, impressive array of top-notch musicians:
This project marks the continuation of the tremendously successful partnership between Paul and his record label, Ubuntu Music:
“This is my second solo album on Ubuntu and once again Martin has given his unwavering support and enthusiasm to the music we created. Since my first release 'Travel Sketches’ we have really bonded not only musically but as friends. We often share ideas and advice and this is exactly the kind of relationship with a label all musicians need. Although ’44’ will be my second solo album on Ubuntu, it’s actually the 5th album I’ve produced or co-produced on the label, including TRYPL and two Secret Sessions albums, ‘Fragile Eagle’ & ‘Hoop’. Long may this partnership continue.”
Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, shares his thoughts: “Paul is that one in a million individual who possesses immense talent and boundless energy to consistently deliver world class music and spellbinding live performances. Over time, our relationship has steadily grown from strength to strength, professionally and personally. It is both a privilege and an absolute joy to be associated with such an exceptional artist and all-round good guy. May it continue to infinity and beyond!”
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