DISTRIBUTED By DISTROKID

COMPOSER'S NOTES

Mark Lockheart has been a good friend for over 20 years. We have worked together in education at Trinity Laban conservatoire of music on the jazz course and also he is a regular tutor on my jazz summer school ‘The Dordogne Jazz summer school’. We were rehearsing some music for a band gig and discovered that we really enjoyed the duo format. After developing some material, we decided to record the first of my ‘Conversations with friends’ albums.

The Jagged Stacks of Duncansby

I wrote this tune in 2015 as was part of a project in Lythe in Scotland. The Jagged Stacks of Duncansby are literally stacks of rocks pointing out of the north sea just beyond John O’Groats. The music evokes the sea and the dramatic coast line of these breathtaking natural formations of rock.

Magical Manatee

My birth place place of Miami was near the Florida keys where I lived as a small child. During a trip decades later I was witness to the magical spectacle of the manatee. They are large mammals swimming so gracefully despite their slightly awkward looking torsos. The music in this piece reflects the movement of the manatee as it pushes through the sea, effortlessly as though the creature large size is no barrier to swimming.

Blueing

This was a composition that grew out a bass line and was inspired by the duo with Mark Lockheart. I felt it was very much in his musical character- relaxed, free and always inspiring.

Istrian Dreams

The title refers to the area in northern Croatia called Istria. It was here that I was first became part of the Jazz Extempore band and the projects that guitarist and Liburnia Jazz festival director, Elvis Stanic, generated. The area is lush and hilly with a rocky coastline.

Tonci’s Song

In 2020 I was due to record an album with Croatian drummer Tonči Grabušic in Slovenia. He had decided to record to celebrate his 50th birthday. This tune was his birthday present. Sadly due to covid we never recorded it so here it is recorded 6 years late. Tonci-‘Happy Brithday’!

Counting Minutes

This was recorded previously on ‘Tryptych’, my piano trio album with Seb Rochford and dorian Lockett. The music is lyrical and has an exotic flavour with the use of the harmonic minor scale.

When Something is Nothing

A ballad from the musical ‘Lionesses 110%’ I wrote with Dorian Lockett on the history of women’s football in England. This Sondheim influenced piece comes at a point in the story when the women’s unofficial football team returned from Mexico, having taken part in a women’s world cup in 1971. Expecting paparazzi , media and the general public to welcome them on their return, they were practically ignored. This true story was the inspiration for the music and although their ‘something’ being in the top 6 in the world cup was ‘nothing’ to the society at the time, the event was a milestone leading to the lifting of the ban on women’s football which had been in place for 50 years.

If I Were a Bell

This classic tune from ‘Guys and Dolls’ is presented here with a new arrangement.

About Mark Lockheart

This first edition "Xchanges" features saxophone legend Mark Lockheart who has been a fixture on the UK and international jazz scene first coming to prominence with the pioneering big band Loose Tubes, before going on to shape the UK scene through projects such as Perfect Houseplants and the Mercury Prize-nominated Polar Bear. With Polar Bear, he recorded six groundbreaking albums over twelve years — including Held on the Tips of Fingers (Mercury nomination, 2005) and In Each and Every Way (Mercury nomination, 2013) — and the group also received a MOBO Award nomination in 2004. These recordings became touchstones of British jazz’s modern renaissance. A collaborator of remarkable range, he has worked with Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Seb Rochford, June Tabor, Django Bates, the NDR Big Band, Robert Wyatt, Radiohead, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, with whom he premiered major contemporary works such as About Water and Anna Nicole at the Royal Opera House. He has also performed with and collaborated alongside an extraordinary range of composers and artists across genres, including Huw Warren, Nikki Iles, Laura Jurd, John Parricelli, John Paul Jones, John Pattitucci, Louis Stewart, Stereolab, Prefab Sprout, Thomas Dolby, Burt Bacharach, and even the likes of British icons Ronnie Corbett and Tommy Cooper! Lockheart’s artistry has earned widespread recognition, including Jazz FM Instrumentalist of the Year (2016), Parliamentary Jazz Musician of the Year (2010), and the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Composer Award (2019). Through his writing, performing, and collaborations, he continues to bridge jazz, classical, and electronic worlds — confirming his place as one of Britain’s most imaginative and influential musical voices.