Nat Birchall – Akhenaten … Gondwana’s second release
Gondwana Records, Manchester’s finest independent Jazz label, releases its second album on June 22nd.
Peep Nat Birchall’s MySpace
to sample a few of the tracks and keep your ears glued to the official Gondwana site for a podcast celebrating its release. Matt Halsall (label head) and Nat Birchall continue to play live in Manchester, London and beyond…
June 2009
6th – Matthew Halsall & Nat Birchall Live – 22:00 @ The Luminaire – London
7th – Matthew Halsall Live 13:00 @ The Bluecoat – Liverpool
13th – Matthew Halsall Live – 22:00 @ Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club – Manchester
15th – Matthew Halsall – Aftershock with Nitin Sawhney – Genoa – Italy
Our second release is by Nat Birchall who celebrates 30 years of playing the saxophone. During that time he has been quietly working on his craft, slowly but surely progressing towards a style and concept that best communicates his view of the universe.
Initially inspired by the great horn men of Jamaica, people like Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook and Cedric Brooks, Nat found his way into the music of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and the whole world of Jazz, before finding his own voice on his instrument.
Along the way he has played in many different musical situations, playing Turkish Folk/Jazz with percussionist Akay Temiz, forming the ground-breaking “Corner Crew†which experimented with elements of Jazz and Hip Hop, and the heavy Roots Reggae of Dubdadda. Nat’s quintet, “The Sixth Sense†made his debut CD of the same name in 1999. The album was well received and was one of Jazzwise magazine’s editor’s CDs of the year, earning a 4 star review.
Unusually amongst UK musicians, Nat’s sound and concept has been favourably compared to John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Charles Lloyd. Nat currently plays in Matthew Halsall’s adventurous groups, appearing on his “Sending My Love†CD, as well as performing with Arun Ghosh’s Indo-Jazz ensemble, Jon Thorne’s Oedipus Mingus and guitarist Gary Boyle’s quartet.
For fans of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Sleep Walker, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd will appreciate where Nat is coming from.
The album features:
Nat Birchall – Tenor Saxophone
Matthew Halsall – Trumpet
Adam Fairhall – Piano
Gavin Barras – Double Bass
Gaz Hughes – Drums
