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Winter Sun
Jim Howard
Label: Elsden Music
Released: 2025
Views: 28
Tracks
It's Colder Now; Garden Home; Winter Sun; Together, Alone; Time Rush; For M. A.;To Have And To Haven't; Hold Fast; Godumaduma; The Twinkling Lights Of A City Far Below;Outer Hope
Personnel
Jim Howard
bass, electricAdditional Personnel / Information
Jim Howard: Trumpet
Album Description
Composing for cinema and TV, trumpeter Jim Howard is used to writing music that works alongside predetermined scenes and storylines, and as a member of the bands Moonscape, Forever Between, Beyond The Treeline and Day For Night keeps his improvisational mind sharp. With his new solo album Winter Sun the trumpeter conjures up his own imagery through his thought-provoking melodies and application of electronics to produce a distinctively individual soundscape. In contrast to Jim Howard’s previous release, Beyond The Treeline in a duo setting with Julia Walkington utilising gongs, hand percussion and singing bowls in an intoxicating set that was wholly improvised, here Howard works with composed melodic and chordal lines together with improvisation to create the music. The use of electronics, using delays, loopers, echo, harmoniser and distortion, the trumpeter can also employ a layering of textures and multiple trumpet parts in addition to looped ostinatos to create his own ensemble. Acknowledging the influences and pioneering work of saxophonist John Surman as well as trumpeters Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvær and Jon Hassell “for his use of space”, Howard has curated his own set of compositions that communicate on both an atmospheric and emotional level. An album of solo trumpet pieces sounds like it could be stark and forbidding but in using a variety of sounds and layers of trumpet and flugelhorn parts to form a rich harmonic background Jim Howard has created a beautifully structured album that does not rely on the use of electronics to produce static backdrops. The resulting music retains the use of space that allows the music to breathe and unfold as it its own pace, and with Howard’s sense of lyricism and ear for melody the lines between composition and improvisation are often impossible to distinguish. This is evident on ‘It’s Colder Now’ in which an electronic drone opens the composition before delicate trumpet phrases spell out the melody. The carefully prepared arrangements, some of which are seemingly created in the moment as the music unfolded, cleverly utilise the electronic hardware to enhance the human input. The title track features a wonderful unison melody and use of muted trumpets that are heard in the background is an effective touch that is only made possible by the superbly controlled dynamics and expressiveness of Howard’s playing. This can also be heard on ‘The Twinkling Lights of a City Far Below’ with subtle use of electronics and muted trumpet bringing forth this gentle yet powerful ballad. Acutely aware of producing a well-balanced and varied programme, Jim Howard shakes things up with the propulsive ‘To Have And To Haven’t’ in which he squeezes the notes out his trumpet over tumultuous drums to present a thrilling and unified performance. The improvised ‘For M.A.’ dedicated to friend and percussionist Martin Allen further reveals Howard’s creativity as does the arrangement of the traditional west African ‘Godumaduma’ effectively recast for a brass ensemble. Not wishing to be confined by the recording studio or technology, Jim Howard has cleverly conceived his compositions and their setting to be a living, breathing music that can be performed live, and in doing so has produced an album that is an exploration of melody, composition and improvisation.
Album uploaded by Greg Dowling
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
