June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Quercus (2013) [Hi-Res]

Quercus’ means ‘oak’ in Latin and the roots of this particular tree dig deep into British folk music, while leaves and branches reach upward to embrace jazz-inspired lyrical improvising. The trio features the venerable English singer June Tabor whose dark voice has an uncanny ability to underscore the emotional essence of a ballad: “As I get older, I understand more the depths of sorrow and joy that made the song”, she has said. Tabor, who was recently voted BBC Folk Awards Singer Of The Year, is joined in the Quercus project by Welsh jazz pianist and composer Huw Warren, and by English saxophonist Iain Ballamy, well-known to ECM listeners as co-leader of the band Food. This is the first Quercus album but the trio has existed already for seven years, patiently developing its unique idiomatic blend.

Three unique musicians converge to create an evocative mixture of words and music, encompassing jazz, folk and traditional songs in contemporary settings. Saxophonist Iain Ballamy, and pianist Huw Warren, winner of the 2005 BBC Jazz Award, both have international reputations as composers; June Tabor is quite simply one of today's most commanding and distinctive interpreters of traditional song.

June Tabor's singing career, initially unaccompanied, grew alongside those of contemporaries such as Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, Martin Simpson and Maddy Prior. A restless creativity has led her into unexpected collaborations where she has applied her interpretational acuity to material by writers including Duke Ellington, Elvis Costello, Tchaikovsky and Tom Jobim.

Tabor joins forces with pioneering jazz musicians / composers Iain Ballamy (saxophone) and Huw Warren (piano) under the name Quercus. The performance they create is lyrical, harmonically intriguing and quietly emotional, using original instrumental pieces as breathing spaces between sets of songs. The result is a fertile musical microclimate in which Tabor's natural eclecticism truly thrives.

'But always that voice wins you over... Unafraid, unadorned and completely beautiful.' (Chris Jones, BBC Music)

June Tabor, voice
Iain Ballamy, tenor and soprano saxophones
Huw Warren, piano

Tracklist:
01. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Lassie Lie Near Me (5:12)
02. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Come Away Death (6:36)
03. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - As I Roved Out (6:00)
04. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - The Lads in Their Hundreds (5:41)
05. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Teares (3:58)
06. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Near But Far Away (7:32)
07. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Brigg Fair (2:30)
08. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - Who Wants the Evening Rose (4:46)
09. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - This Is Always (4:39)
10. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - A Tale from History (The Shooting) (4:36)
11. June Tabor, Iain Ballamy & Huw Warren - All I Ask of You (8:04)