Home » Jazz Musicians » Terence Collie Discography

DNA

Buy Album

Review request made

Terence Collie

Label: Adhyâropa Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:49:21
Views: 318

Tracks

Montrose to Mahe; Good Genes; Silhouette; Tall Palm Trees; Beau Vallon; Harbour View; La Digue; Bird Island.

Personnel

Album Description

DNA is my most personal work to date, an album that explores identity, heritage and belonging through the lens of contemporary jazz composition. Rooted in my family heritage in the Seychelles, the music traces both a geographical and internal journey, from the UK to the Indian Ocean and from documented history to inherited memory. Looking beyond my known family tree, I began to uncover a wider lineage, with migratory roots spanning 26 regions across multiple continents. This perspective broadens and quietly underpins the music. While the starting point is autobiographical, the intention is not to present a fixed narrative but to create a space where these themes can be felt rather than explained.

The album is written for an acoustic piano trio with strings and percussion, with a compositional approach that centres on groove, clarity and interaction. Rhythm is a defining element, particularly the use of compound metres and Afro-diasporic influences, not as surface colour but as structural foundation. The harmonic language shifts across the album. At times, it is deliberately economical, allowing melody and improvisation to remain direct and lyrical. At others, it becomes more expansive and harmonically detailed, opening up a different kind of expressive depth. The strings are fully integrated into the ensemble, sharing melodic material, shaping form and extending the emotional range of the trio rather than sitting above it.

Across the album, the music unfolds in two connected arcs. It begins by moving through ideas of migration, inheritance and ambiguity, from motion and transition towards a more introspective, unresolved space. It then becomes more grounded, drawing directly on the landscapes, rhythm and atmosphere of the Seychelles. At its core, DNA is about the balance between composition and improvisation, past and present and the ongoing process of understanding where we come from.

Album uploaded by Rob Cope