Album Notes

"Jailhouse Jazz"

Forged from the depths of incarceration and inspired by the legendary "Blue Note" recordings of the 1950's comes "C.I.D" a brilliant new concept album by Manchester-based jazz hitmen Stalker.

Ten of "C.I.D's dozen tracks were written by Stalker's alto saxman and leader, Sam Qureshi.....while he was on the run from the law and later imprisoned on charges of harassing an ex-girlfriend.

"It was a legal and emotional nightmare," says Sam, "I knew I was innocent, but it took five-years of my life. It could have destroyed me as a man and a musician. Yet it only made me stronger, and out of the experience came these songs.....the best I've ever written."

Songs like "Half-moon Street", "The Secret Pearl" and "Shooting Stars", songs described by jazz insiders as "mature, original and impressive", songs that pay homage to Qureshi's eclectic musical background, fusing jazz classicism with afro-latin sensuality and the hard-edged inner-city rhythms of the street.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, and raised in Birmingham, 40-year-old Qureshi is a self-taught musician who learned his craft as a busker. In 1982 he was a founder member of cult jazz combo "The Cavemen", playing Ronnie Scott's, Hoxton's legendary Bass Clef, London's Capital Jazz Fest, Dingwalls and The Mean Fiddler.

Frustrated by the band's lack of ambition, Qureshi went solo in 1991 and joined the rave scene in a new manifestation as "The Jazz Exorcist", where he supported UB40 on a 1993 European tour and played saxophone PA with hardcore DJ's Grooverider and Fabio. Always looking for fresh challenges, Sam also scored music for television documentaries -- notably the award-winning "Angels With Dirty Faces".

The new album's other mentors are pianist Vinny Parker, who has backed Sonny Stitt, Art Farmer and Jim Mullen, amongst other jazz greats; and Dixieland veteran Ged Hone, an intimate of trad jazz masters Ken Collier and George Lewis.