One of the albums that helped to put Manchester back on the jazz map last year was Matthew Halsall's Colour Yes; another was Nat Birchall's Akhenaten. The same group of core players featured on both releases, with Halsall and Birchall taking turns to wear the leader's hat, and both recordings beautifully exemplified the new flowering of Northern jazz soulfulness. Birchall's six-composition follow-up, Guiding Spirit, takes up where the post-Trane transcendental dreaminess of Akhenaten left off, taking its predecessor's hymn-like qualities and giving them more expansive treatment, Birchall all hypnotic, furrow-browed intensity, Halsall floating off on a cloud of lyrical radiance. Rising on ripples of kora, ‘Higher Regions’ has an epic Tyner-esque tranciness about it, while the Eastern-flavoured ‘Going to the Mountain’ takes its inspiration from a Pharoah Saunders phrase. The title track brings the album to a triumphant close, with Birchall digging deep to explore his musico-spiritual inspirations. As a musical statement, it's not exactly without precedent but it's deeply felt and beautifully executed.

Jazzwise talks to Nat Birchall about his album

What's happened to make Manchester jazz fashionable suddenly?

I wasn't aware that it was! Gondwana Records has been very successful in getting our music noticed elsewhere, for one thing. I think maybe now there's a few recordings out there, as well as the fact that we (Matthew Halsall's band) have been playing in London quite a bit lately, alongside the success of musicians like Stuart McCallum and Luke Flowers, means there's now a more tangible representation of the Manchester scene. And having a club like Matt & Phred's in the city has also been very helpful in enabling people to develop their music in an ongoing way, with regular gigs, which the music absolutely depends on.

It took you more than a decade to produce the follow-up to Sixth Sense. Now you've put out two albums in little more than a year. How come?

Sixth Sense was originally made as a demo and for various reasons I wasn't 100 per cent happy with it. So I wanted to ensure that the next one was going to be as good as I could possibly make it. Since meeting and playing with Matthew I've learned more about my identity as a musician and I think I've experienced a kind of ‘maturing’ of my musical personality, which has enabled me to see the way ahead more clearly.

You talk about the simplicity of your music. How easy is that to achieve?

Simplicity itself is not difficult to achieve; the challenge is in making it work. In composing or improvising, we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that complexity is more valid than simplicity, but simple things require us to give our utmost to make them successful. When you have the right material and musicians, simplicity can be very powerful and emotionally compelling.

How does Guiding Spirit develop or move on from Akhenaten?

The music on Akhnaten worked almost like a suite, although it wasn't conceived that way. On Guiding Spirit I tried to write more contrasting music. I also wanted it to be more representative of how the band plays live, with a little more intensity, which I hope we've achieved to some degree.