Exclusive jazz breaking news: Neil Cowley Trio Change Tack On Fourth Album Confirmed For Release In Early-2012
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Set for release in January by Naim Jazz unmastered Neil Cowley Trio tracks heard exclusively by Jazzwise of The Face of Mount Molehill – the band’s fourth album – suggest a substantial shift in direction since their previous album Radio Silence.
Cowley, who more recently has appeared on Adele’s 21 (he’s the pianist on ‘Rolling In The Deep’), has reconfigured the NCT for the album. Bassist Richard Sadler who appeared with Cowley and Evan Jenkins on the first three albums Displaced (2006), Loud…Louder Stop (2008) and Radio Silence from last year has gone, and in has come Rex Horan (known for his work with indie rock group Mama’s Gun) to join Jenkins plus a string section and session guitarist Leo Abrahams who has previously worked with Brian Eno.
The NCT began to record the album in May shortly after a well received Cheltenham Jazz Festival appearance with several of the strings players. Tracks on The Face of Mount Molehill are: ‘Lament’, ‘Rooster Was A Witness’, ‘Fable’, ‘Meyer’, ‘Skies Are Rare’, ‘Mini Ha Ha’, ‘Slims’, ‘Distance By Clockwork’, ‘The Face of Mount Molehill’, ‘Hope Machine’, ‘La Porte’ and ‘Sirens Last Look Back’. Tickets have already gone on sale for next year’s first major airing of the album to take place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 15 March billed as by Neil Cowley Trio featuring the Mount Molehill Strings. Look out for an interview with Cowley in a future issue of Jazzwise.
– Stephen Graham