"Red Circle is the debut Whirlwind Recordings release from international
acclaimed pianist and educator Simon Purcell, currently the Head of
Jazz at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music in London.
Purcell originally came to prominence during the UK jazz boom of the
1980s through his band “Jazz Train” (with Martin Speake, Cleveland
Watkiss, Dale Barlow et al), a quartet with Julian Arguelles (Loose
Tubes), numerous appearances with or opposite visiting American artists
at London’s Bass Clef Club and occasional weeks at Ronnie Scott’s. As a
passionate educator and thinker about music, Simon’s musicianship
increasingly served educational ends, contributing to the development of
jazz education in the UK (awarded Jazz Educator of the Year by the All
Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group). Now after nearly three
decades of teaching in London’s top conservatoires, this long overdue
album marks Simon’s return to a more active performing career. Purcell’s
band is comprised of some of the most important contributors to the
UK’s creative music scene during the last two decades. They’re also a
bunch of old friends with years of playing experience, and in this
spirit the music was recorded in one room with no real isolation between
instruments, giving the album a ‘live date’ feeling.. Gene Calderazzo
(Partisans, Pharoah Sanders, Joey Calderazzo, Zoe Rahman), Julian Siegel
(Partisans, Joey Barron, Kenny Wheeler, Django Bates, John Taylor) and
Chris Batchelor (Big Air, Loose Tubes, Brotherhood of Breath, Hermeto
Pascoal) are robust and individual musical personalities providing
conceptual counterpoint that ensures the music-making is always more
than the sum of the parts. As a result, the intention behind the
material (all by Purcell) is less about complex themes, instead
providing attractive contexts for improvisation where these artists can
masterfully stretch out." - whirlwindrecordings.com
