Mulldoon’s Strut

Some lockdown fun with an original tune dedicated to my grandson, Rocco.. It features the wonderfully inventive skills and musicianship of jazz violinist Xenia Porteous, a musician I’ve never actually met but feel I know very well. Thanks also to Alex Linton a young musician with a bright future ahead of him.

Greensleeves

My take on a very old tune. GOOGLE says :- “Greensleeves, composed anonymously in 1580, is a song which has been a magnet for fanciful claims. It is commonly thought that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn; but others believe that Lady Greensleeves was a loose woman or a prostitute; and that the song has Irish origins. It features some wonderful contributions from Trevor Maplestone and Xenia Porteous on Violins,  also the amazing Dean Ynell, a really talented beat boxer.

Sansula Dreams

A short simple piece written around the pretty sounds of the Sansula. The Sansula is really an Mbira (African thumb piano) fixed to a Frame drum. Delays were used to create texture and movement. Because of the fixed pitchs of the Sansula I decided to use some strings to imply some different harmonies. Finally the piece became a kind of dialogue between the Kaosilltor (using a vocal type sound)and my alto sax. The result is a very simple tone poem.

Float

This tune is inspired by trumpeter Ben Thomas’s sound world. Acoustic instruments especially alto sax and flute are treated by Logic audio units special effects. Namely modulation and heavy stereo delays via midi sync. Also was a bit of an excuse to mess around with Final Cut video editing.

Silvia Leali

This track is dedicated to a dear friend who we lost far too soon. Silvia Leali was an incredibly kind, generous, warm and compassionate woman. She is greatly missed by all that were fortunate enough to know her.

I’m grateful to the time, efforts and musicality of my friend Ceri Williams who played  so beautifully on this piece.

Bindy

Written with my cheeky nephew in mind ,James Hornsby, whose nickname  is Bindy. This bass loop was later ‘fleshed out’ with one of my favourite guitarists, Simon Gibbs, playing on. FULL TRACK HERE….https://soundcloud.com/papabull/bindy…

Three Views of a Secret

Here is a saxophone 4tet arrangement by the talented saxophonist, composer and arranger, Jonathan Lewis. Originally composed for a large ensemble including a choir and recorded for one of Jaco’s solo albums with the Word of Mouth band. Jonathan has very creatively been able to realise the wonderful harmony of this fabulous chart using just 4 voices.

Walking by Flashlight

This is an arrangement of Walking by Flashlight composed by the brilliant American composer Maria Schneider. I’ve arranged the large score for four frontline voices (Soprano, Trumpet, Tenor sax and Trombone)