With his new bandmates - a group of young musicians from Manchester - trumpeter cum bandleader Matthew Halsall has struck gold. After the album
Salute To The Sun (late 2020) and the ep
The Temple Within (September 2022), the album Changing Earth, released at the tail end of 2023, is already the third recording to appear from the company. Officially another EP, but with a playing time of half an hour
… - spread over four long-drawn-out pieces - Changing Earth feels like a full-fledged album. Halsall himself calls the new compositions more meditative than those on the previous EP, which were more soulful and free - prompted by Halsall et al.'s monthly evenings at Manchester jazz club Yes. The starting point remains spiritual jazz in the tradition of Alice Coltrane (with a starring role for Matt Cliffe's flute), but rarely has it sounded more hopeful than in such wonderful tracks as Yogic Flying and the very aptly titled Positive Activity. (RME)more
