Guiding SpiritGondwana ****
Nat Birchall is a remarkable tenor and soprano saxophonist who has taken the relentless intensity of John Coltrane to a gentler place. There is the same incantatory feel, both questing and celebratory, of the Coltrane Quartet, but less turbulent, more melodic, with more space to allow the music to breathe. But no less heartfelt and moving. Birchall wrote all the material for this new album, which features substantially the same band used on his earlier, sublime
Akhenatenand trumpeter Matthew Halsall's recent, impressive
Colour Yes- the Adam Fairhall-Gavin Barras-Gaz Hughes rhythm section, with Matthew Halsall (trumpet) and Rachael Gladwin (harp/kora) on two tracks; Chris Manis (percussion) is added. At times almost religious in tone, it's never less than absorbingly beautiful, with
Open Up The Gates, Keep The Light Shiningand
Higher Regions,outstanding.
