Phil Robson - Six strings and the beat (2008)

Tracklist

01. Rubber duck
02. Quick silver
03. Songbird
04. Hold you
05. The mook
06. Louisiana
07. Wishing well
08. Silver threads
09. Hillbleeoos
10. Sticks and stones

Phil Robson's new release on Babel demonstrates the thrilling developments he has made as an innovative composer and arranger as well as an award-winning, world-beating guitarist. Originally commissioned by his home town Derby's Jazz Week, Six Strings and the Beat, with its combination of string quartet and jazz trio, is a multi-faceted revelation with Robson meticulously researching his sources and inspirations from a wide spectrum that includes Malian singer Oumou Sangare , Bartok, Ornette Coleman and music associated with Americana along with Robson's unique facility and sensitive grasp of the US jazz tradition from Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino through to Jimi Hendrix.

Emma Smith and Jennymay Logan are known for their work with Mercury-nominated Basquiat Strings, former Austrian Jazz Musician of the Year Peter Herbert is one of the most exciting, virtuoso double bassists currently on the scene (who has also collaborated extensively with Christine Tobin and Huw Warren) while US-born dynamo drummer Gene Calderazzo has an enviable reputation as a member of Partisans and cellist Kate Shortt, a dynamic solo performer in her own right, is also on Christine Tobin's new CD Secret Life of a Girl.

Even before the release, the project has been making waves. The critics were instantly wowed by the first live performances. John Fordham, writing in the Guardian in a live review of the Derby Jazz Festival was in no doubt that, "... the sensation was guitarist Phil Robson's Six Strings and the Beat project, for guitar trio and string quartet. This inspired crossover is a real achievement for Robson and should go down among the year's jazz landmarks."

Critic Jack Massarik was also hugely impressed with the live premiere at the Vortex, writing in the Evening Standard , "Robson is a top-class soloist but an unknown force as a composer. It was thus a revelation to find him capable of remarkably sophisticated writing for string quartet, voice and rhythm section."

Phil Robson - Guitar
Peter Herbert - Double bass
Gene Calderazzo - Drums
Emma Smith, Jennymay Logan - Violin
Naomi Fairhurst - Viola
Kate Shortt - Cello
Special guest - Christine Tobin - Vocals

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