Salute To The Sun

Review by Graham Spry) There are a few record labels owners who shape the world of British jazz as much as they contribute to it. These include Dave Stapleton (Edition), Gilles Peterson (Brownswood), Michael Janisch (Whirlwind Recordings), and, in his Manchester hometown, trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall. Halsall’s record label, Gondwana Records, has done much to showcase and promote young British musicians such as Mammal Hands, GoGo Penguin and Portico Quartet and international artists such as Dwight Trible and Hania Rani. The label’s aesthetic approach is a natural extension of Halsall’s own music which is his response to the spiritual jazz of the 1970s, the contemporary electronica of the Cinematic Orchestra and James Holden, and, at least as important, his personal experiences of meditation and contemplation of the natural world. Halsall’s first album was Sending My Love in 2008, and his third, On the Go in 2011, won a Gilles Peterson Worldwide Winners Award. Last year, Halsall did issue a selection of previously unreleased recordings from as far back as 2008 on the album Oneness, but Salute To The Sun is Halsall’s first new recording since Into Forever in 2015. The album is atmospheric and gently rhythmical and allows space and opportunity for Halsall and his band of six other musicians to improvise and express themselves. This recording evokes the spirit of nature even more than his earlier recordings, as is evident from the titles of the album and its tracks, but this is a view of nature that is fresh and almost stark as shown by the album’s bold cover image credited to Halsall’s brother Daniel.