George Haslam - Suite of Dreams (2015)

In 2005 we started the ‘Oxford Jazz Masters Series’ – the idea being to invite contemporary jazz musicians to play in Oxford, originally in the Holywell Music Room. The HMR hire charge later spiralled way out of reach of our finances but other suitable venues have been found, notably the Burton Taylor Studio, a part of the Oxford Playhouse complex.

We have been fortunate enough to receive sponsorship through the Jazz Services/PRS Promoters Awards Fund, enabling us to present many top UK artists as well as musicians from Argentina, Estonia, Cuba and Italy. Constant throughout the 10 years has been the OxJaMS Trio – Richard Leigh Harris piano, Steve Kershaw bass and myself reeds. Several OxJaMS concerts were recorded and released on CD, including those with Lol Coxhill, Harry Beckett and Stefano Pastor. For a long time we talked about recording the trio alone, eventually going for it in the newly opened HSO Studio, Oxford in April 2014. This CD is the result – we preserved the music in the order it was played on the day; one decision we did make before recording was to explore all combinations of duos, solos and trio.

I travel extensively with my music, improvising and often recording with musicians I meet for the first time. It is very interesting the difference one feels when working with musicians and groups one has played with over longer periods. Both have their appeal, the development and familiarity of the longer term group and the unknown adventures with new partners but I feel the music here reflects a cohesiveness which I enjoyed very much.