London-based drummer Jon Opstad’s second album, Interpretations, was recorded almost three years after his debut, Still Picture, and marks a change in direction from the sense of European lyricism that imbued that project. Interpretations was inspired by the classic work of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock around the late 1960s and early 1970s - on such albums as Shorter’s Schizophrenia, Super Nova, Moto Grosso Feio and Odyssey of Iska and Hancock’s Speak Like a Child, The Prisoner and Mwandishi - and that of a number of other progressive jazz artists recording around this period such as Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and, of course, Miles Davis. The project is made up of seven compositions directly inspired by this era of jazz. It was recorded in a single afternoon’s recording session at Eastcote Studios, with a seven-piece band made up of some of London’s finest improvising musicians. The resulting music is exciting and richly textured, with highly charged soloing and shifting ensemble colours.
Nick Smart - trumpet, flugelhorn
Simon Cosgrove - soprano saxophone
James Allsopp - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Liam Noble - piano, fender rhodes
Justin Quinn - electric & acoustic guitars
James Opstad - double bass
Jon Opstad - drums
Recorded at Eastcote Studios, London, UK, September 16th 2006.
Recording Engineer - Anna Tjan
Produced by Jon Opstad
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