24th October 2014: “One of the most accomplished homegrown acoustic jazz releases of the year so far.” says Marlbank about Simon Purcell’s debut album ‘Red Circle’ + new preview tracks up

Red Circle is the debut release from international acclaimed pianist Simon Purcell, currently the Head of Jazz at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music in London, where he is known as one of Europe’s premier educators.  Purcell’s band is comprised of some of the most important contributors to the UK’s creative music scene during the last two decades: double bassist Steve Watts (Printmakers, Loose Tubes, Iain Ballamy), Gene Calderazzo (Partisans, Pharoah Sanders, Joey Calderazzo, Zoe Rahman), Julian Siegel (Partisans, Joey Barron, Kenny Wheeler, Django Bates, John Taylor) and Chris Batchelor (Big Air, Loose Tubes, Brotherhood of Breath, Hermeto Pascoal).

We’ve just been alerted to a great first review for the album which drops next month on the 10th of November from Marlbank and we reprint a highlight quote below.

“One of the most accomplished homegrown acoustic jazz releases of the year so far. The head of jazz at Trinity-Laban’s first album for Whirlwind, the best UK indie jazz label for a while now in terms of the quantity and quality of its output, there’s something timeless about the appeal here in much the way that you can listen to an old Wayne Shorter record and it still seems modern and relevant, the collected wisdom of a lost time where the music sums up the pensive mood but celebrates the musical abandon so persuasively.”
4 Stars, Marlbank

Preview tracks now up on the Red Circle page

Now you can listen to previews of the entire album over on the Red Circle page.  Simon and band will be performing at the Pizza Express Jazz Club as a featured act during the EFG London Jazz Festival on Sunday November 16th. This will be his official release concert for the album.