aaamusic | On 14, Feb 2014

A Night With Gondwana Records

February 15 2013 – King’s Place

Manchester based Gondwana Records is one of the UK’s hippest labels releasing outstanding albums by deep saxophonist Nat Birchall, label boss Matthew Halsall and the genre-smashing trio GoGo Penguin. Tonight’s very special mini-festival launches their spring 2014 releases with performances from GoGo Penguin, Matthew Halsall’s spiritual jazz ensemble The Gondwana Orchestra and exciting new discovery Mammal Hands.

Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra

King’s Place Hall Two – Feb 15 – 7pm – returns only

“Grooving through time on the spiritual sunship.” Mojo Magazine

“’Kind Of Blue’ meets The Cinematic Orchestra …With hypnotic grooves, and a meditative slow-build to his solos, Halsall’s music is saturated in a life-affirming glow”. Time Out

Manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and band-leader Matthew Halsall’s unique sound was brilliantly described as “Rain-streaked spiritual jazz from Manchester” by the Independent On Sunday and tonight’s very special show features the debut of his latest project, The Gondwana Orchestra: Featuring Matthew Halsall on trumpet, Nat Birchall saxophones, Lisa Mallett – Flute, Keiko Kitamura – Koto, Rachael Gladwin – Harp, Taz Modi – Piano, Phil France – Double Bass and Luke Flowers – Drums They’ll be playing music from their forthcoming album When The World Was One (due for release May 2014) featuring deep, soulful, modal jazz drawing on the legacy of Alice Coltrane and influenced by Halsall’s love of Eastern music and spiritual jazz.

GoGo Penguin  & Mammal Hands

King’s Place Hall Two – – Feb 15- 9.15pm – £14.50

“Anthemic riffs and skittering grooves..pushes the acoustic piano trio into the future” Jazzwise

“It’s obvious why the Manchester clubs are jumping to this band.” The Guardian

Hotly tipped as the rising stars of UK Jazz by The Times newspaper, – skittering breakbeats, telepathic interplay and a penchant for anthemic melody all contribute to a sound that’s wholly GoGo Penguin’s own. Featuring pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Rob Turner, the brilliant GoGo Penguin, draw on a heady brew of influences from Squarepusher to Brian Eno, Debussy to John Cage and Massive Attack to create their unique, groove-heavy, highly lyrical, acoustic-electronica sound. Their debut album Fanfares, was released to universal acclaim in Nov 2012 and nominated for album of the year at Gilles Peterson’s World Wide Awards. Their hook-laden, anthemic follow-up, v2.0, is scheduled for release in February 2014.

Support comes from Mammal Hands, a trio of like-minded musicians: Nick Smart keyboards, Jesse Barrett drums and percussion, and Jordan Smart saxophones. Drawing on influences from Steve Reich to Aphex Twin and DJ Krush, alongside elements of North Indian and African music their debut album will be released on Gondwana Records in spring 2014.