25th October 2014: Max Luthert’s debut ‘Orbital’ reviewed ahead of it’s launch this monday the 27th + 2015 tour dates

Orbital (click here) is the debut album (launches in 2 days on the 27th Oct) from double bassist and composer Max Luthert, one of the UK’s most in-demand young musicians currently known for his work as a sideman in the bands of Zara McFarlane (who just won this year’s MOBO award in the jazz category), WWR signed Partikel and Benet McLean. Largely heralded for his skills on the low end providing strong support with his signature dark & husky bass sound, he now steps up with this shimmering debut to showcase his strengths as bandleader, arranger and fine composer. He recently played to a full house at Pizza Express for the album launch and that was previewed in London Jazz here.

We’ve had some other great album reviews come in ahead of the release and we share them here:

“A very mature work for a debut… Luthert has a fine sense of time and a big jazz vocabulary at his disposal, his modernistic sound encompassing the bass tradition that stretches from Richard Davis to Dave Holland.”
4 Stars, Marlbank

“The tunes are all by Luthert and are lyrical, long-lined, melding nicely through written sections and solo space, sometimes running loose, sometimes enclosed by the arrangements… The title track is another really enjoyable piece, packing a punch that has the three woodwinds almost sounding like a big band, such is the richness of the writing.”
The Jazz Breakfast

“An impressively mature début from Luthert. A set of compositions that are rich in colour and texture, the sextet line up allowing for plenty of variation in terms of tone and timbre.”
4 Stars, The Jazz Mann

2015 Tour Dates:

Catch Max and his Orbital sextet around the UK in early 2015, here are the dates so far, more to come:

18 January – Ashburton Jazz Club
19 January – North Devon Jazz Club, Appledore
21 January – Dempsey’s, Cardiff
22 January – SoundCellar, Poole
23 January – Sheffield Jazz Club