Oneness, by Matthew Halsall

Oneness

by Matthew Halsall

supported by

il-berts Such a beautifully crafted album. Such intense rich weaving of sounds and feelings. It’s one of those albums you are happy to share at the same time want to keep as a personal secret.

Amazing stuff by Mr Halsall. I suggest anyone reading this to spend some time in his early stuff too. Song to Charlie is monumental. Favorite track: Oneness.

Torsten Earlier recordings by Matthew Halsall creating beautifully floating soundscapes. Just shows that it doesn’t matter whether wonderful music was made today or yesterday. It will always be entrancing. Favorite track: Loving Kindness.

Mason Totally addicted to this material! A calmness unmatched! Favorite track: Oneness.

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Printed in deluxe reverse board sleeve with 3x artwork printed inner sleeves.

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Full Digital Discography

14

releases

Get all 14 Matthew Halsall releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Changing Earth, The Temple Within, Salute to the Sun – Live at Hallé St. Peter's, Joyful Spirits of the Universe, Salute to the Sun, What The World Needs Now Is Love / Tryin' Times (ft Matthew Halsall), Colour Yes (Special Edition), Sending My Love (Special Edition), and 6 more. , and , .

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1.	Life 09:58	info	buy track
2.	Oneness 11:26	info	buy track
3.	Stan's Harp 07:40	info	buy track
4.	Loving Kindness 09:39	info	buy track
5.	Distant Land 08:42	info	buy track
6.	Stories from India 09:33	info	buy track
7.	The Traveller 06:49	info	buy track

about

A collection of unreleased meditative, spiritual jazz from the Gondwana archives in a 3xLP vinyl set

The recordings on Oneness date from Jan, March and September 2008 and were born from a period of experimentation as Halsall first began to explore the music that would provide the inspiration for his spiritual jazz recordings Fletcher Moss Park and When the World Was One. They also offer an intriguing snapshot into the birth of Halsall’s Gondwana Orchestra and feature many musicians who would go on to become a key part of Halsall’s musical journey, such as harpist Rachel Gladwin, bassist Gavin Barras and saxophonist Nat Birchall. The recordings sat in the Gondwana Records vaults for over a decade before Halsall felt it was the right time to share them. Asked about the recordings Halsall says:

“I’ve always treasured these recordings and loved how vulnerable, open and free they are, but I just felt they were too subtle and sensitive to release early on in my career, so I held them back until now. I also feel now is the right time to release these before I begin a fresh journey with a new bunch of musicians.”

Remarkably, the beautiful compositions heard here were all built around a simple tanpura drone sound. An instrument Halsall heard on Alice Coltrane’s ‘Journey In Satchidananda’ album and then at a later date in a concert featuring Arun Ghosh on clarinet and John Ellis on piano. “I loved the way this instrument created a sort of meditative atmospheric pulse for the musicians to work over and it had this beautiful feeling of togetherness, so after the gig I went out and bought a Raagini Shruti box featuring the tanpura drone and began to practice my trumpet over it and wrote lots of loose themes and melodies”.

The sessions that make up Oneness capture Halsall in the process of building a new band, reaching out to various musicians he’d discovered and admired on the Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds music scene. “I really liked this idea of bringing lots of musicians together from different backgrounds and was fascinated with how they would all react to each other and the tanpura drone box seemed to bring everyone together really well, it was kind of like a nice meditative icebreaker exercise for everyone to loosen up, before we got stuck into the more composed tunes I’d created, some of which ended up on the Sending My Love and Colour Yes albums”.

The album’s title, Oneness, speaks to both Halsall’s conviction that the planet should be shared equally with all of its inhabitants. That no human being or other inhabitant deserves to exist more than the other and that we can achieve far more together than against each other. And also importantly to what Halsall was aiming for musically:

“I really believe in Oneness and I’ve always loved the term ‘greater than the sum of its parts’. I could make music on my own and live a fairly isolated antisocial life, but there’s something far more rewarding about creating things with others. And for me these sessions document the coming together of lots of different musicians in a wonderfully organic soulful way to make egoless music”.

It’s a belief that continues to underpin Matthew’s music making and a message that the world sorely needs right now as we feel more divided and separated than ever. This then is Oneness, a decade in the making and well worth the wait. Enjoy!

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This release was uploaded at 24 bit / 96 kHz for maximum fidelity and is available in FLAC, WAV, AIFF or MP3.

credits

released September 27, 2019

2019, Gondwana Records

license

about

Matthew Halsall Manchester, UK

A trumpeter whose unflashy, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty, Halsall, has created his own rich sound world. A sound that draws on the heritage of British jazz, spiritual jazz, world music and electronica influences, and even modern art and architecture, to create something uniquely his own. A music that is rooted in Northern England but draws on global inspirations. ... more

matthewhalsall.com

shows

Jun 17

Saint Luke's

Glasgow, UK
Sep 13

Wylam Brewery

Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Sep 14

Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen

Leeds, UK
Sep 15

Metronome

Nottingham, UK
Sep 16

New Century Hall

Manchester, UK
Sep 21

Royal Albert Hall

London, UK
Sep 22

Norwich Arts Centre

Norwich, UK
Sep 23

Upper Chapel

Sheffield, UK
Sep 30

The Parish

Huddersfield, UK
Oct 05

Hare and Hounds

Birmingham, UK
Oct 06

The Goods Shed

Stroud, UK
Oct 07

Theatre Severn

Shrewsbury, UK
Oct 09

Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre

Exeter, UK
Oct 10

St George's Bristol

Bristol, UK
Oct 18

CAFE DE LA DANSE

Paris, France
Oct 19

Hotel Cecil

Copenhagen, Denmark
Oct 21

Ancienne Belgique (AB)

Brussels, Belgium
Nov 01

De Duif

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nov 02

Lantaren Venster

Rotterdam, Netherlands
Nov 03

Passionskirche Kreuzberg

Berlin, Germany
Nov 05

Moods

Zürich, Switzerland
Nov 08

Tama

Poznan, Poland
Nov 09

Niebo

Warsaw, Poland
Nov 20

Centro Cultural de Belém

Lisbon, Portugal
Nov 21

Casa Da Música

Porto, Portugal
May 24

Konzerthaus Dortmund

Dortmund, Germany

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