Migration – Oriole

Description

ORIOLE – MIGRATION

“The soundtrack to a story of joy and longing born from an irresistible impulse to travel but never to arrive”

Migration is Oriole’s second album, a sensory banquet of soaring melodies, colourful South American folklore, lively dances and emotional ballads of longing. Music that creates a rich, emotionally disquieting world that is at once familiar and dreamlike. A world of freedom, of movement, of dusty roads and travelling musicians in shaded market squares whose journey will never end. These are songs of magical realism mingling elements of fantasy, myth, desire and wanderlust in renderings that blur traditional distinctions between what is serious or trivial, melancholic or joyous.

“The magical realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things.”
Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature

Oriole’s composer and guitarist Jonny Phillips was described by The Guardian as “A big new composing presence” and Time Out as the brilliant F-IRE collective guitarist on the release of the first Oriole album Song for the Sleeping in 2005. He has travelled widely blending the musical, folkloric and dance traditions of North Brazil, West Africa, Southern Europe and beyond. These Influences have been as important as the folkloric music of his own region and the church music of his composer parents. Here both the migrations of the composer and the band members have resulted in the creation of new musical hybrids; the physical and artistic travels being inseparable.

Oriole received enthusiastic reviews last year for live performances at venues such as The Purcell Room, South Bank Centre in London. Migration’s release will be accompanied by a 15-date nationwide tour that will include Cheltenham Jazz Festival as Jerwood rising stars.

The album features an award-winning international line-up including drummer Sebastian Rochford, saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, cellist Ben Davis, bassist Anders Christiansen, vocalist Julia Biel, percussionist Adriano Adawali Itauna and clarinettist Idris Rahman. All top instrumentalists in their respective fields.

The Birmingham Post “Proof that Jazz in the 21st century can be pretty and have street cred too.”

Jazz at Ronnie Scotts “As forceful as it is subtle, Oriole have in the space of two albums found something that most groups spend many moons searching for, a sound of their own.

Straight no Chaser “This album delivers those light-hearted and playful moments we expect of the summer, it’s skillfully and wholeheartedly composed and performed by an exceptional band.”

Jazzwise “a musical mosaic that feels as spiritually uplifting as a Paulo Coelho novel.”

Echoes “the UK’s self-contained neo-samba nova wave that’s well free of any Ipanema cocktail cliche??. If your looking for finely-honed compositions and pert, astute improvisation that embrace Latin music, jazz and folk-rock all the while avoiding hackneyed vocabulary, then Oriole is probably as good as it gets.”

All About Jazz “An enchanting follow-up to Song For The Sleeping, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the return of warmth and sunshine than to spin Migration.”

The Guardian “Bandleader and prolific guitarist-composer Jonny Phillips seems to have tunes coming out of his ears.”

The Evening Standard “If you like your jazz gentle, worldy, folksy and acoustic, look no further.”

Time Out “Expect waltzes, gentle samba, persuasive grooves, poignant themes and uplifting melodies that’ll make you smile, think and want to dance.”

24Dash.com “This is a beautiful album, flawlessly written, arranged, played and produced and covering a wide stylistic and emotional range. A joy to listen to and it should be a contender for the album of the year awards. ”

The Vortex “entrancing, affecting and compulsively playable. Unreservedly recommended.”