Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - INTO FOREVER

Over the course of five albums, Manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and band-leader Matthew Halsall has carved out a niche for himself on the UK music scene as one of it’s brightest talents. His languid, soulful music has won friends from Jamie Cullum and Gilles Peterson to Jazz FM and Mojo as well as an ever-growing international following. His new album Into Forever, puts the spotlight on Halsall the composer, arranger and producer. Halsall draws on a diverse range of influences from Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Phil Cohran and Leon Thomas to the more contemporary sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra, Max Richter and Nils Frahm to deliver his most complete recording to date. Indeed, although the self effacing Halsall only plays trumpet on two tracks here, it is nonetheless every note, a Matthew Halsall album.

“I love being a musician, love playing, but for me every note has to serve the music I hear in my head and as I composed the music that became this album, I found that the voices that best expressed my intentions, were those of my friends and colleagues in The Gondwana Orchestra, as well as the two wonderful singers I have been lucky to work with on this album. I consider this my most personal record to date as though there are less solos within the compositions, this allows you to hear a lot more of my voice through all the instruments. It’s also the first time I’ve collaborated with vocalists, which is something I’ve always wanted to do”.

Indeed, while Halsall’s last album When The World Was One was very much about The Gondwana Orchestra exploring the legacy of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, this album follows on from Matthew’s 2013 meditative masterpiece Fletcher Moss Park which found Halsall developing a unique fusion of spiritual jazz and Eastern influences to deliver a deeply personal statement. But while the sound world here is similar to Fletcher Moss Park, with Halsall again utilising strings to powerful effect, the catalyst for Into Forever came when Halsall met Manchester based soul poet Josephine Oniyama when they collaborated on a new composition for the Manchester based, BBC Radio 3 show, The Verb. For Halsall something just clicked. “I had wanted to work with singers for a while, but nothing quite felt right, but with Josephine and then Bryony I am delighted to have found two astoundingly talented young Manchester artists whose vocals, lyrics and melodic ideas really fit with how I hear music”. But Into Forever isn’t just about the vocalists, it features many of Halsall’s most trusted collaborators, with key contributions from flautist Lisa Mallett, harpist Rachael Gladwin, koto player Keiko Kitamura, pianist Taz Modi piano, bassist Gavin Barras, drummer Luke Flowers and two percussionists Sam Bell percussion and Chris Cruiks as well as again featuring Halsall’s distinctive writing for strings. The result is arguably Halsall’s finest record, a sublime melding of stripped back soulful funk and deep, minimalist, spiritual jazz, that will take you on a journey deep into forever!

Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - Into Forever (feat Josephine Oniyama)

Video on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/139210979 or You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-iqa3AxFM

Into Forever opens with the striking Only A Woman, originally written as an instrumental, Halsall sent it to Oniyama and the title comes from her lyrics about a mother bringing up her daughter and then later in life the daughter caring for the mother, a powerful image. As I Walk, the second of four collaborations with Oniyama, conjures up the journey that Halsall albums take you on and musically nods to the music of Leon Thomas and Yusef Lateef, two favourites of the composer. The evocative Dawn Horizon started as a piano instrumental, which Halsall then re-scored for strings and orchestra mainstay, bassist Gavin Barras. The funky Badder Weather features another fine Oniyama vocal and in feel offers a nod to the Art Ensemble’s free and funky Theme De Yo Yo. A word too for the contribution from pianist Taz Modi another key member of The Gondwana Orchestra. The elegiac These Goodbyes is one of Halsall’s most personal compositions, written for his friend, and early supporter, poet Linda Chase, who sadly passed away in 2011. It’s named for one of her poems and was the last piece Halsall performed at one of her events at the Whitworth Art Gallery. The ominous, dark toned The Land Of, builds a beautiful groove out of eastern scales and sounds and features fine work from flautist Lisa Mallet, koto player Keiko Kitamura and a killer drum groove from Cinematic Orchestra drummer Luke Flowers whose feel and timing brings so much to The Gondwana Orchestra. The exotic Longshan Temple is named for a beautiful temple in Taipei, Taiwan, where Halsall recently spent some time as a guest of trumpet company P.Mauriat, whose horns he plays, musically its influenced by Halsall’s crate digging for Exotica and classic ‘library’ records, both fertile ground for DJs. The delightful Cushendun (from Irish Cois Abhann Duinne, meaning "beside the River Dun") is named for a small coastal village in the county of Antrim, in Northern Ireland, where Halsall recently holidayed with his partner, writing this charming tune when he returned to Manchester. The powerful Into Forever was the first song Halsall wrote with Oniyama, originally commissioned by The Verb show on BBC Radio 3 with the theme ‘Things I Don’t Want To Know’, the collaboration felt so natural that they decided to do more work together and so came the genesis for the album Into Forever. The graceful Daan Park came to Halsall while sitting on a park bench in Daan Park in Taipei, Taiwan watching a group of people learning Tai Chi, the movements they were performing were so gentle and elegant and he aims to capture some of this within the composition. It is also the first time on the album we hear Halsall’s languid, lyrical playing and the subtle mood change sets up perfectly for the album closer, Jamais Vu, which features singer Bryony Jarman-Pinto who also wrote the lyrics. It’s named from the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognizes in some fashion, but that nonetheless seems very unfamiliar, something she felt as she wrote the tune and signifies.

The Gondwana Orchestra:

Matthew Halsall trumpet, Lisa Mallett flute, Rachael Gladwin Harp, Keiko Kitamura koto, Taz Modi piano, Gavin Barras bass, Luke Flowers drums, Sam Bell percussion, Chris Cruiks percussion (track 7 & additional percussion track 6)

Margit Van Der Zwan cello, Natalie Purton viola & violin, John Purton violin (tracks 1, 2, 11), Jote Osahn violin (tracks 3, 5, 6, 7,), Ollie Izod violin, (track 5)

Josephine Oniyama vocals, except Bryony Jarman-Pinto vocals (track 11)

All music composed and arranged by Matthew Halsall, except tracks 1, 4, & 9 composed by Matthew Halsall & Josephine Oniyama and track 11 composed by Matthew Halsall & Bryony Jarman-Pinto

Produced by Matthew Halsall. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by George Atkins at 80 Hertz (2013-2015).