28th April 2023: RELEASE DAY – ‘Purple / Black Vol. One’ by David Preston out now
The brand new album – Purple / Black Vol. One from guitarist David Preston is released today.
PERSONNEL
David Preston – guitar
Kit Downes – piano
Kevin Glasgow – bass
Sebastian Rochford – drums
When David Preston started composing for the project that became his first solo LP, he opened up some fascinating new perspectives. In contrast to his acclaimed work with high-octane fusioneers Preston/Glasgow/Lowe he found himself drawn to simple forms, textures and moods – ‘not going full tilt all the time’. To realise his vision, he assembled a cast of extraordinary musical explorers. Building on his relationship with six-string bassist Kevin Glasgow as a foundation, he chose multi-genre drummer Seb Rochford, equally at home playing with the avante-jazz of Polar Bear as he is with pop sensation Adele, and rounded the team off with front-rank composer, arranger, pianist and organist Kit Downes – all players whose approach could simultaneously encompass both simplicity and deep complexity, and match the freedom to improvise with a respect for the concision and directness of the song. David took them into the studio and the band instantly gelled, diving into a mammoth session that yielded enough material for two full albums. Volume 1 – Purple / Black is the first offering – a coherent suite of song-form tunes whose direct, uncluttered melodicism conceals hidden depths that reveal themselves anew at each listen.
The album encompasses the creative depth and breadth of jazz, but has the immediacy and presence of more direct popular music forms, brought to life by the inspired playing of the band. ‘I could have brought the same music to a lot of other great musicians and they might not have treated it as seriously because it’s so simple. But Kevin, Seb and Kit understood it instinctively – you can still be creative and interactive on these simple tunes.’ It’s a bold step but one that pays off again and again.
Purple / Black Vol. One is out now – read more and buy on our e-store here