Browsing Tag

Saxophonist

Embark on an ochre aural adventure with Ross Cantrell’s single, Peach Skies, ft Sam Thompson

Posted on 7 August 2023

After graduating from Bath Spa University with a First-Class Honours Degree in Music and releasing a superlative string of successful singles, the saxophonist and composer, Ross Cantrell has invited his fans to embark on an ochre aural adventure by unveiling his debut album, Golden Hour.

While each of the seven singles serves up a melodic remedy that will indulge your senses in catharsis, the standout jazz-fusion single, Peach Skies, featuring Sam Thompson is the perfect introduction to Cantrell’s arresting ability to bring presence of mind to his listeners.

From an intro of reverberant drenched in 80s nostalgia synths, the downtempo amalgam of smooth jazz and electronic pop gets to work embedding under your skin, implanting ease with each mellifluous progression that exhibits Ross Cantrell’s natural talents when it comes to subduing you into a sonic world of sheer sonic serenity.

The halcyon days may be over in our society, but endless swathes of tranquillity await anyone willing to hit play.

Stream Peach Skies and the LP in full by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

World renowned saxophonist legend Lil’ Maceo calms all anxiousness away into the sky on 2MRO

Posted on 22 December 2022

Taken from his upcoming album called Evolution, the much-respected Lil’ Maceo turns all worries away into the westerly wind with a breathtakingly memorable performance to treasure forever on 2MRO.

Lil’ Maceo aka Mr Funky Sax is an award-winning indie jazz saxophonist who is well-known all over the world and performs with masterful class.

”Lil’ Maceo has shared the stage with a host of music giants including Prince, Cyndi Lauper, JT Taylor, Maceo Parker, Nick Colionne, Euge Groove, Marcus Johnson, Cyril Neville, Sinbad, and Gavin DeGraw.” ~ Lil’ Maceo

Projected so expertly and with that proficient energy which we mere mortals shall never fully comprehend, Lil’ Maceo is rather illuminating on 2MRO and shall galvanize the world into being a much better place to live.

2MRO from the award-winning jazz saxophonist Lil’ Maceo is a perfect way to spend 6 minutes and 31 seconds. Each note is rather splendidly intertwined deeply within our souls, to float our tired hearts away into a much better place in time. Furnished with a gloriously precise arrangement which will untangle those self-made nets of doom, calming all souls in the process and displaying the actual power of delightful music.

Listen up on SoundCloud. See more via on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Detroit’s Saxappeal doesn’t want that messed up rush on his sexy new single, ‘Stay Here’

Posted on 8 May 2022

With a romantic atmosphere wafting through the curtains that might make us blush unexpectedly, Saxappeal shows us that peace and love without devious plans to trick anyone is actually the best way to live on, ‘Stay Here‘.

Saxappeal is a Detroit, Michigan-based indie jazz solo saxophonist/vocalist/music producer who makes music to connect with the core of humanity that needs that authentic love again.

”His hopes are to touch people through his music, in ways they’ve yet to be touched.” ~ Saxappeal

Bringing our lives a kind single to really admire and slow dance with, Saxappeal has made a sweet song that is pure in nature and warm in context, that has been created at the perfect time. True love, not war, is what we need more reminding of after all wouldn’t you say?

‘Stay Here‘ from Detroit, Michigan-based indie jazz solo saxophonist/vocalist/music producer Saxappeal shows us a man who has decided that she could be the one. His eyes are lit up as he sees the light and you can feel the true love in his vocals, which are wrapped inside with that sensual sax sound of a real professional. This is a song for all the lovers out there who need reminding that taking time is key, not rushing and messing anything up.

Romance really is simple if we are able to correlate naturally.

Listen up to this new single on Spotify and see more of his energy come to life as he inspires us all on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Oli Morris takes us on a tour with the Acid Jazz-inspired ‘Bimal’

Posted on 24 June 2021

It’s always a pleasure to review something a little bit out of the blue and unexpected, and when it’s from someone as accomplished as Oli Morris that holds doubly so. A saxophonist and composer originally born in Northridge, California but now living in Bristol, Oli studied music at the University of Chichester, but soon found himself an in-demand session player and live sideman, performing at Bestival and Glastonbury as well as decamping to Rockfield Studios with festival favourites Cut Capers.

Shortly before the world paused and ‘roadmap’ took on a new, Covid-related meaning, Morris returned from a month-long backpacking tour through India. The result, featuring a collective of Bristol’s up-and-coming music glitterati, is ‘Bimal’, a jazz-neo-soul fusion in two halves, featuring the stunning, silky-smooth vocals of Chrissie Huntley wrapped around Morris’ masterful saxophone, interspersed with Snazzback’s Eli Jitsuto’s deliciously restrained guitar parts and the oh-so-cool jazz-funk rhythm section of Sam Fox and Andee Liu. There’s some serious Rare Groove and Acid Jazz smoothness here, echoes of the Brand New Heavies and Incognito mixed with touches of Galliano’s ‘Joyful Noise Unto The Creator’ around Ruaridh Wilkinson’s Rhodes piano-work; it’s chilled, mellow, and it’s got some serious soul.

Check out Oli Morris here or on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Lewis Daniel asks what we’ve all been thinking – ‘Why Me’?

Posted on 26 April 2021

The debut single from your debut EP can always be a nerve-wracking time, even for a performer as highly sought after as Lewis Daniel. Playing across venues as wide-ranging as the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, and Ibiza Rocks, and composing for and performing with artists as diverse as MOBO-winner Rachel Kerr, Boadi, The Last Dinosaur, The House Gospel Choir, and his own horn section The Biscuit Horns, BRIT School and Guildhall School of Music alumnus Daniel’s debut, ‘States Of Being’, is a concept piece which melds his British and Caribbean influences; ‘Why Me’, as the title suggests, talks about that peculiar introspective place between anger and meditativeness, an internal questioning of why the world is the way it is.

A mostly instrumental piece, save for some deliciously evocative French-language spoken word sections, ‘Why Me’ mixes Daniel’s trademark saxophone with dance beats, synth bass, Caribbean steel drums, and electronics, melding jazz, hip-hop, and garage into an auditory experience that’s at times dazzling in its complexity, surprising, uplifting, and toe-tappingly good.

You can hear ‘Why Me’ on Spotify now. Lewis Daniel’s ‘States Of Being’ EP is out on the 30^th April; in the meantime, you can follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes