Aretha Tillotson - Kinda Out West (2025)

Tracklist

01. Jill of All
02. Kinda Out West
03. Cricklewood Lane
04. Lullaby to Those Before
05. Sphere of Influence
06. 35
07. Gauche Caviar
08. Sad Junie (to Highway Jake)
09. Kinda Out West (alternate take)

Kinda Out West is Edmonton bassist Aretha Tillotson’s second album as a leader. A follow up to her Western Canadian Music Award winning 2024 album Introducing Aretha Tillotson, Kinda Out West is an ode to the musicians of her native Alberta and the neighbouring province of British Columbia: artists whose work is fuelled by the prairies and grasslands; by the ocean and the mountains. The musicians who play on this album are, by birth or by choice, intrinsically linked to this landscape. Despite modern comforts, western Canadians retain the spirit of previous generations who knew that survival depended upon a strong, independent nature coupled with an unwavering commitment to community. Tillotson’s quartet follows in the tradition of the great chordless bands of saxophonists Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The compositions on this album are as varied as Western Canada’s breathtaking landscapes: the straight-ahead title track exhibits close ties to Rollins’ classic 1957 album Way Out West; Sad Junie brings to mind saxophonist Joe Henderson’s masterful modal writing of the 1970’s; and Tillotson’s modern compositions 35 and Jill of All are both inspired by the album’s incredible horn frontline: Nanaimo, BC born sisters Ingrid and Christine Jensen.

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