Josephine Davies & The Ensō Ensemble
The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite
Release Date: 28th February 2025
CD & Digital Formats / UBU0180
Josephine Davies (Photographer: Greg Heath)
Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the signing of award-winning composer/arranger/saxophonist Josephine Davies for the release of The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite, her next project, on 28th February 2025.
Josephine explains: “This project began 10 years ago when I wrote my first piece for the London Jazz Orchestra during a period of extreme early rising. Inspired by the sun rise, I named it for Eos, the Goddess of the Dawn. Fast forward a decade, a number of jazz orchestra pieces under my belt, and a move during lockdown out of the city, I instinctively felt drawn to deepen my relationship with the earth and the wildness around me, whilst simultaneously wanting to expand upon this first piece. The result is the eight part suite, each movement inspired by a particular time of year and what it holds for me emotionally and spiritually.”
Josephine Davies (Photographer: Kate Butts)
Josephine describes the music for The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite: “An eclectic listener, I love the spirit of improvisation and spontaneity inherent in jazz, as well as the subtly considered precision of orchestral writing. I am on a continuous quest to blend these elements in a way that is both surprising and inevitable, challenging yet richly satisfying. Ultimately the album is a hymn to the beauty, power, and grace (if I may use such an old-fashioned word) of this magnificent earth.”
Two album launch shows will be hosted by The Vortex in London on Friday, 20th December. Ticket links are below:
First Show (7:30PM): BOOK HERE
Second Show (9:30PM): BOOK HERE
Josephine Davies (Photographer: @Sundrugs)
Josephine further comments on her new relationship with Ubuntu Music: “I am delighted to partner with Martin Hummel and Ubuntu Music for my debut jazz orchestra release. This Suite is the culmination of a good few years of experimentation, learning, writing, and finally rehearsing and recording. It has been an immensely rewarding endeavour that I can’t wait to share with the world, and I can’t think of a better record label to do it with.”
Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, concludes: “I’ve been an admirer of Josephine and her endless talent for years – as a composer, bandleader and as a saxophonist. ‘The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite’ perhaps represents her greatest challenge as a professional, with 16 stellar musicians in her orchestra, culminating in her eight-part suite. The end result is sublime, with each movement celebrating a specific time of the year and expressed through her personal spirit. We are so happy to welcome Josephine and her exceptional musicians to the Ubuntu Music Family.”
BIOGRAPHY:
Winner of the 2019 Parliamentary Award ‘Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year’, Josephine Davies is a saxophonist, composer and bandleader at the forefront of the UK contemporary music scene. She has four album releases on Whirlwind Recordings with her trio Satori, and is known for her melodic focus, versatility and unique style as an instrumentalist.
Now becoming equally known as a composer, her unique voice is a blend of classical, jazz and folk music, creating an intensely dynamic sound infused with the Nordic quality of her Shetland roots. Josephine was resident composer and tenor player for the London Jazz Orchestra from 2012-2018, leaving at that time to form her own large ensemble.
Josephine subsequently decided on the name ‘The Ensō Ensemble’, which is inspired by the Zen Buddhist practice of a circle drawn in a single, unedited brushstroke, celebrating the beauty of incompletion and imperfection, and the polarity of movement and stillness. It is an inspirational tool for Josephine as she continues to play with the ever-shifting balance of written music and space for improvisation.
Enso Ensemble Orchestra (Photographer: Greg Heath)
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL:
Josephine Davies Composer, conductor, tenor saxophone
Michael Chillingworth Alto & soprano saxophone
Rachael Cohen Alto saxophone
Helena Kay Tenor saxophone
Adam Bishop Tenor saxophone, clarinet, alto flute
Tamar Osborn Baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Noel Langley Trumpet, flugelhorn
Reuben Fowler Trumpet, flugelhorn
Nick Smart Trumpet, flugelhorn
Robbie Robson Trumpet, flugelhorn
Anna Drysdale French horn
Olli Martin Trombone
Maddie Dowdeswell Trombone
Eddie Curtis Bass Trombone
Alcyona Mick Piano
Dave Whitford Double bass
Shaney Forbes Drums
