Is this a ‘jazz’ album? I really don’t know. Jazz is a reductive term for a a music form that stretches from the turn of the last century to now and includes a huge variety of styles - a common denominator is improvisation and there's quite a lot in these tunes so I guess they qualify. Harmonic colouration comes into it too but then I like to use primary colours with tertiaries - however, that's also common in modern jazz. So yeah, for me, this is a jazz collection.

About the originals of the covers:
Follow Your Heart is called Arjen's Bag on John McLaughlin's Extrapolation, an album I've been listening to since I was 15.

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The original is on Mingus Ah Um, one of the great jazz albums.

Naima is from John Coltrane's Giant Steps. The well-known, beautiful ballad that co-exists on the same album as the title track. A turning point in the history of jazz.

Strange Meeting. Bill Frisell wrote this and has recorded it a number of times. The first that I'm aware of is on Rambler (1984). He recorded it again on This Land (1992) - there are other versions. A lovely tune, kind of a surreal tango in C minor. This represents ECM Records. The ECM aesthetic was so important for me - sonically, and how Manfred Eicher curated the label but also the artwork which so accurately complimented the music. This ECM sensibility was something I tried to bring to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - it's there if you listen.

Sweet Rain, Michael Gibbs taught Bill Frisell at Berklee. Gary Burton has recorded a number of his compositions. All, I believe recorded for ECM.


The uploaded files are at 24bit / 48khz resolution. If you choose a lossless format as your download option (AIFF and WAV, ALAC or FLAC) the music will be 24bit.