On The Go

A 6 track soul jazz album (44m 22s) — released April 18th 2011 on Gondwana Records

WINNER OF THE BEST JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR - Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards, 2012 Nominated Best Jazz Album MOBO Awards, 2011 "If I could watch any jazz band in the UK, any, I would choose Matthew Halsall's band, just love what he's been doing for the last few years... It's always high level, spiritual jazz music" Gilles Peterson Worldwide on BBC Radio 1 Manchester based, DJ, bandleader and trumpeter Matthew Halsall is one of the UK's brightest talents. A gifted trumpeter with a beautiful, expressive tone, his music draws on his love of the transcendental, spiritual and modal jazz of Alice and John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, as well as the glories of '60s British jazz. His previous albums 'Sending My Love' and 'Colour Yes' released on his own Gondwana label have won him a legion of fans across the world and acclaim from the likes of Gilles Peterson and Radio 3's Late Junction, MOJO, BBC Music Magazine and even BBC 6 Music. His third album 'On The Go' is a heartfelt love letter to the jazz of the late '50s and early '60s. Inspired by the evocative sounds of Miles Davis' soundtrack to the Louis Malle film 'Lift To The Scaffold' and the legendary early '60s recordings of Art Blakey and Max Roach the album is nostalgic but always soulful. However, while Halsall's elegiac music is imbued with a sense of history, the young trumpeter and DJ nevertheless brings a contemporary bounce to his music ensuring that his music breathes with a personality all it's own. The album opens with 'Music For A Dancing Mind', the most obvious nod to the work of Blakey and Roach. The beautiful 'Song For Charlie' is named for Halsall's grandfather, a key inspiration in his life. Dukkha is a Buddhist term roughly translating to suffering so the title 'The End Of Dukkha' is self-explanatory and 'Samatha', another Buddhist term, means calm, a perfect title for this elegant tune. 'The Journey Home' came to Halsall on the train back to Manchester from London and captures that happy feeling of return.

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

Rain-streaked spiritual jazz from Manchester. - The Independent on Sunday

his music really lives in that kind of 50's and early 60's spiritual jazz area very much influenced by the music of Alice Coltrane and John Coltrane...[his music]..has a real sense of wonder to it and a real sense of mystery as well and I'm a big fan - Jamie Cullum BBC Radio 2

If you like dreamy groovers with drifting melodies, you'll love this. - BBC Music

Just gorgeous delicate, acoustic, modal jazz. - All That Jazz

Halsall's admirable purity of tone and economy of notes mark him as a newcomer to watch. - London Evening Standard

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