Album Notes

After contributing as a sideman to a wide range of recordings (including works by Junior Mance, Memo Acevedo, Irakere, Cache as well as his own earlier Extreme Flute projects), flutist Bill McBirnie swings and sparkles once again in a straight-ahead acoustic jazz setting.

This recording sets Bill alongside one of Canada's foremost jazz pianists, Bernie Senensky, as well as a consummate rhythm section which is rounded out by the impeccable Neil Swainson on bass and a steadfast John Sumner on drums.

The album consists of a solid combination of standard jazz repertoire (including the cunning and crafty title track which was written by Bernie Senensky) yielding a balanced mix of duo and quartet outings, all of which are executed with a relaxed and "blowing session" like ease. The result is a CD with genuine "drop-the-needle-anywhere" charm.


Bill McBirnie - EXTREME FLUTE

Bill McBirnie is a jazz and Latin flute specialist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has studied with distinguished Canadian flutist and composer, Robert Aitken, and Cuban Charanga legend, Richard Egues. Bill is known for his superior technique on the entire family of flutes (from bass flute to piccolo). He is also recognized as an accomplished improviser, notably in the bebop, swing and Latin idioms as illustrated by his recordings as a sideman with Junior Mance, Irakere, Memo Acevedo and Cache.

Bill has produced two of his own EXTREME FLUTE projects and, more recently, a straight-ahead acoustic jazz recording under his own name featuring The Mark Eisenman Trio entitled, "Nature Boy" (which attained the No. 4 spot in Jazz.FM91's Top 40 international line-up for 2003 in Canada as well as being in the spin-cycle of Bob Parlocha's syndicated jazz program in the US). Needless to say, "Nature Boy" has garnered consistently excellent reviews internationally-in Canada, the US, Britain, Holland and France. Some sample comments on Bill's flute work follow:

"A distinguished flutist with a devotion that shows up in the airy sweetness of his sound at ballad tempos and in the remarkable control he can bring to rapid-fire, skittering runs on up tempo, Coltrane-inspired material." (Stuart Broomer, Editor, Coda magazine)

"McBirnie has always handled bop exceptionally well. You can hear his years at the conservatory in his sound-a pure, transparent tone at rest, brightening with exertion-yet he swings like someone who grew up with a large collection of Blue Note and Prestige LPs down in the basement. He's entirely idiomatic, but also effortlessly inventive." (Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail)

"...All beautifully recorded, unclassifiable, and virtually timeless..." (Michael Steinman, Cadence Magazine)

Bill has also been chosen Flutist of the Year by the Jazz Report Awards, nominated as Miscellaneous Instrumentalist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards as well as being declared a winner of the U.S.A. National Flute Association's triennial Jazz Flute Masterclass Competition.