The Full Circle Quartet and The South Downs Ensemble with Mandy Pannett - Meanders In The South Downs

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 130:30
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 120,1 MB
Art: Front

(35:32) 1. Part 1 - Meanders In The South Downs
(33:06) 2. Part 2 - Meanders In The South Downs
(27:14) 3. Part 3 - Meanders In The South Downs
(34:38) 4. Part 4 - Meanders In The South Downs

With over 2 hours of content in 4 parts of around 30 minutes each (download); 38 tracks (Double-CD), this album includes twelve new arrangements for Quartet with The South Downs Ensemble alongside ten of the original pieces recorded by The Full Circle Quartet on their album “The South Downs Suite”, all put into context by Mandy Pannett's recordings of her poems from the book of the same name and field recordings of the sounds of the South Downs.

The titles of the new pieces refer to the poems by Mandy Pannett and to the paintings of Polly Dutton that are also featured in the book. Book available separately on The South Downs Suite page.

The collaboration comes full circle.

The South Downs Ensemble has The Full Circle Quartet at its core, with additional parts written for flutes, clarinets, cornets, flugelhorns, trombones, euphoniums and percussion, both tuned and untuned.

New arrangements for the Ensemble expand the music already composed and recorded by the Quartet creating companion pieces for many of the Quartet tunes. Each arrangement contains elements borrowed and/or adapted from the music on the Quartet album. The sound of the Ensemble refers back, nostalgically, to the many village silver bands heard growing up in Sussex in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Full Circle Quartet:

Josephine Davies - soprano and tenor saxophones
Joss Peach - piano, keyboards, percussion, voice
Terry Pack - acoustic and electric basses, voice
Angus Bishop - drums and percussion

The South Downs Ensemble:

Kate Hogg - concert and alto flutes
Michelle Andrews - clarinet and bass clarinet
Mike Hext - trombone, flugelbone and euphonium
Nick Trish - cornet, flugelhorn, soprano cornet and piccolo trumpet
Richard Horne - glockenspiel, vibraphone, xylophone, marimba, timpani, tenor drum, tambourines
Mike Saunders - sound design

Meanders In The South Downs

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The Full Circle Quartet - Open Water

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 58:41
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 53,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:09) 1. Tributaries
(9:16) 2. Pilgrimage Open Water
(0:43) 3. Flow
(7:25) 4. Open Water
(5:36) 5. Song For Biko
(5:11) 6. Weighless
(7:56) 7. Hunter's Moon
(5:55) 8. Hirundelle
(4:03) 9. World Beyond World
(9:24) 10. Evening Sun

f the Open Water album contains some fine compositions and excellent playing from all, then the group manage to eclipse their own achievements with the remarkable, and stunningly beautiful, Meanders in the South Downs. In tandem with the South Downs Ensemble, the Full Circle Quartet revisit ten of the compositions from their The South Downs Suite album with expanded arrangements that bring a new glow to the music, along with new pieces and poetry written and read by Mandy Pannett.

The music is marvellously conceived as a suite that plays over 2CDs over a two-hour duration that is totally absorbing. The arrangements are full of detail, and the sense of familiarity comforting as one recognises tune heard from the Quartet’s 2023 album, but Terry Pack cannot help but get up to mischief in working elements of one composition into another. One of pianist Josh Peach’s compositions gets two outings, firstly as a ‘Ravillious’ which is a ballad version of his tune ‘Selborne’ and then as an up tempo number under its original title.

It is often the little touches, often subtle that make the music such delight. Josephine Davies’s ‘The Dance of the Dragonfly’ with the original quartet arrangement enhanced by additional woodwinds as the piece winds down.

Throughout the two discs there are readings of original poetry by Mandy Pannett recounting the history of the South Downs that bring an additional dimension to the music that add immeasurably to the enjoyment of this exceptional release.
https://jazzviews.net/the-full-circle-quartet-open-water-the-full-circle-quartet-the-south-downs-ensemble-with-mandy-pannett-meanders-in-the-south-downs/

Personnel: Josephine Davies (Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Voice); Joss Peach (Piano, Percussion and Voice); Terry Pack (Double Bass and Voice); Angus Bishop (Drums, Percussion and Voice)

Open Water

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The Full Circle Quartet - The South Downs Suite

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 76:58
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 176,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:23) 1. Oasis
(5:59) 2. Pathways
(6:44) 3. The Dance of the Dragonfly
(5:36) 4. River Runs
(6:04) 5. Amberley
(3:44) 6. Cathedral
(7:31) 7. Chalk and Flint
(4:28) 8. Selborne
(6:47) 9. One January Morning
(6:50) 10. For Now: Jack and Jill
(8:20) 11. La Belle Dame de Belle Tout
(5:06) 12. Seven Sisters
(5:20) 13. A Walk In The Woods

There is a happy tradition of pastoral celebration not just in British classical music, but in jazz as well. Recently we’ve had James Kitchman evoking his beloved Northumberland on Rain Shadows with Bruno Heinem, while Kate Westbrook’s Granite band is embued with the soul of Dartmoor and the West country. The Full Circle Quartet takes the concept several steps beyond, however.

Poetry and books of painting are hard behind this release plus a follow up of ensemble pieces. And all based on a vivid vision of the sights, sounds and nature of the South Downs. There are generic songs, such as the subtle awakening of ‘Oasis’ or the fittingly flighty ‘Dance of the Dragonfly’ by Davies. But there’s site specific songs too, like the moodily beautiful ‘Seven Sisters’ inspired by the chalk cliffs of the East Sussex coast.

But the suite’s not all bucolic romanticism. Indeed, much of the music was born from the band’s experiences of lockdown, a mix of isolation, awe and awareness of nature’s indifference to humanity. All the members compose, and the band plays with great service to the music. But it’s hard not to single out Davies, nightingale blithe on soprano and variously dark toned, even vicious on tenor. We’re lucky to be witnessing a generation of saxophonists like Davies, Trish Clowes, Tori Freestone and newer stars like Emma Rawicz and Asha Parkinson bringing a fresher sensibility to Adolphe’s invention.By Andy Robson https://www.jazzwise.com/review/the-full-circle-quartet-the-south-downs-suite

Personnel: Angus Bishop (d, perc); Joss Peach (p, v, perc); Josephine Davies (ts, ss); Michelle Andrews (b-flat cl, bcl); Kate Hogg (flhn, af); Terry Pack (b, v)

The South Downs Suite

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