Secret Sessions: Hoop (UBU0092)

Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce its continuing relationship with the Secret Sessions series, for the worldwide release of Hoop on 5th November 2021.

Sax stalwart Paul Booth is the curator of the Secret Sessions project, which is an outlet for new music that is created, played, and ultimately recorded by grouping like-minded artists and friends together. It works like this…Paul carefully selects a range of highly talented musicians who turn up to the recording studio, only knowing the instrumentation of the music but not knowing who they will be recording with. The result is a dynamic cocktail of spontaneous, exciting, and highly rewarding music.

As Paul explains it, “The response has been staggering and proved just how passionate everyone is about making new music. I sifted through the top musicians available and picked a band utilising trumpet/trombone/tenor sax/piano/bass/drums. It dawned on me that it could be fun to keep them in the dark about who they were going to be recording with on the day…and ‘Secret Sessions’ was born. The only information they had was instrumentation, to aid them in their arrangements and what time and where they needed to be. We began the series with ‘Fragile Eagle’ and had a blast. Now we are onto our second release, ‘Hoop’, with an entirely different set musicians and we are absolutely delighted with the results of this ‘album in an afternoon’ session. We did some post-production work on the tracks, with additional instrumentation added later. However, the core of the music was seven people in a studio playing ‘live’. The music is vastly different from the first ‘Secret Sessions’ release and is reminiscent of the fusion/jazz funk/jazz rock era.”

The core band is as good as it gets: Tom Walsh (trumpet), Nichol Thomson (trombone), Paul Booth (tenor sax & bass clarinet), Chris Allard (guitars), Laurence Cottle (electric bass) and Ian Thomas (drums). They are joined on a handful of tracks by Steve Hamilton (keys), Miles Bould (percussion) and Ross Stanley (Hammond organ).

 Tom Walsh describes the project: “The germination of this album came from the core of the band wanting to explore some original music off the back of touring with various pop/rock artists. Having worked together in multiple musical line-ups as sidemen for multiple bandleaders, it made sense to come together and create some music under our own combined leadership! A lot of the players in this outfit are known for their work as top London session players but wanted to revisit their jazz and improvisational roots. ‘Hoop’ presents an album of synth-tinged fusion coming from a group of contemporary jazz musicians with wide musical influences and experiences. Expect everything from powerful horn-led prog rock elements all the way through to gutsy, soulful ballad and blues playing.”

Chris Allard continues: “It has been a huge pleasure and privilege for me to be a part of this album. Paul Booth is an immensely creative and productive force, and his open-minded, generous, and collaborative approach has led to this diverse and exciting recording. I had worked with and been rather awed by the immense talents and reputations of all the musicians involved, but had not recorded with them all, and certainly not together and in such an open, collaborative, and creative project. It has been a very positive and rewarding experience for me and listening back to the recording is deeply gratifying.”

Concerning their partnership with Ubuntu Music, each gave their view:

Tom Walsh--"It’s fantastic to be working with Martin (Hummel) and Ubuntu. As a huge supporter of genre-diverse contemporary music on this scene, there’s no-one we’d feel more at home with, in terms of understanding the music we’re creating, and we look forward to being on the same roster as a lot of our favourite players and colleagues.”

Chris Allard--"I’m thrilled to be involved with Ubuntu Music. I’ve been aware of Ubuntu since its inception, have admired its excellent work ever since, and been delighted to see how successful, prolific, and respected it has become. I find the range of music released by Ubuntu--though stylistically diverse--without exception shares the qualities of integrity, high level musicianship and artistry.”

Paul Booth--“On a personal note I feel privileged and thankful that Martin Hummel (Ubuntu) and Paul Pace (Spice of Life) jumped onboard this project with such fire and enthusiasm. This means a lot to each of these sessions as there is an outlet not only for our recorded music but also to play live.”

Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, summed things up: “This is the quintessential Who’s Who in UK jazz, with substantial international credentials. All of these guys have played with the biggest names in music…period. For Boothy to assemble this crew, who played their hearts out for the love of the music, this is about as good as it gets. The Ubuntu Music Family welcomes Hoop with arms wide open.”