Carsten Pieper
Another impressive album released by MoonJune Records. Sid Smith' liner notes describe things very well! Based on Mark Winfield's composition, initially explored in a trio setting and later on enhanced by the skillful bass playing of Tony Levin and Percy Jones (well, great playing by everyone, but what else could we expect?).
Favorite track: The Corkscrew Tower.
tomvm84
I love every song on this magnificent album, but the haunting lyricism of Mark Wingfield's guitar just resonates with me. What a wonderful sonic journey he takes us on with this CD.
Favorite track: Apparition In The Vaults.
Steve Crane
This is my favorite MoonJune album in a long time! Wow, what a thrilling group of songs. Reminiscent of Holdsworth and maybe Billy Cobham? Just a fantastic album.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
MARK WINGFIELD, The Gathering (2LP, 150 grams, clear)
Includes 24bit HD Download of the full albums. Ships from Spain.
5USD shipping to Poland. 7.50USD shipping to Europe/UK. 12.50USD shipping to the Rest-Of-The-World.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Gathering feat. Gary Husband, Asaf Sirkis, Tony Levin, Percy Jones
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
shipping out on or around June 1, 2024
Purchasable with gift card
$29.50USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes 24bit HD Download of the full albums. Ships from Spain.
3USD shipping to Spain. 4USD shipping to Europe/UK. 5USD shipping to the Rest-Of-The-World.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Gathering feat. Gary Husband, Asaf Sirkis, Tony Levin, Percy Jones
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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The brand new studio album of Mark Wingfield’s album for MoonJune Records finds this most distinctive American born English guitarist in the company of Gary Husband (keyboards and drums), Asaf Sirkis (drums) with world-renowned bass players, Tony Levin and Percy Jones. Initially recording with Husband and Sirkis as a trio in 2021 in Spain, Wingfield and MoonJune’s Leonard Pavkovic later recruited Jones and Levin to add their highly individual signature contributions during 2023.
The result is a seamless blend of compositions and collective improvisation that roves way beyond the usual generic categorisations making the album hard to pin down as either jazz or rock. Perhaps that’s as it should be for a sound that hovers somewhere between these and other more diverse stylistic influences.
From whatever direction it comes, as the music moves through the players, their gift is the ability to make it fly. That degree of connection with each other shouldn't be too surprising. Sirkis has worked with Wingfield in other settings such as 2015’s Proof Of Life, 2016’s The Stone House, Lighthouse in 2017, and Tales From a Dreaming City (2018). Wingfield and Husband collaborated on 2019’s thoughtful piano and guitar duet, Tor & Vale.
Asif Sirkis, whose credits include working with Tim Garland, John Abercrombie, Gilad Atzmon, and most recently, full-time drummer with Soft Machine, and Gary Husband, best known for his long-time collaborations with Allan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce, and Billy Cobham, provide empathetic support that acts both as a tightrope and when required a safety net.
As Wingfield navigates his way through the different spaces within The Gathering, he draws unusual textures and serpentine melodic lines from his instrument. Shrewdly mercurial, he shifts between moods of slow, diaphanous beauty to fiercely unrestrained bursts of barbed activity within the blink of an eye. While the trio’s obvious bond is of course an integral part of the album’s magnetic appeal, the presence of two of the top bassists on the scene today only deepens the attraction. Tony Levin, best known for his work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson, contributes to six tracks, while veteran fretless innovator, Percy Jones, rightly hailed for his stellar work in Brand X, enlivens four of the pieces.
There’s a sense of joy and discovery as the trio augmented by their respective guest bassists move decisively through the hinterland between written and composed music and looser, more intuitive environments. Themes and tunes are open-ended and ambiguous in places, enabling his fellow players to do their own exploring and then report back their findings. Mixing spacey drifts, inquisitive sojourns, and harder-edged excursions, these are fearless and unreserved exchanges whose roving angularities are as arresting as they are intense.
The innate curiosity that appears to be wired into Wingfield’s gently unfurling compositions possesses an air of mystery about them. Simmering with the same kind of heartfelt, deeply lyrical soloing one hears in Terje Rypdal and Pat Metheny’s work, Wingfield brings his own magical unpredictability to punchy, racing grooves that dovetail with his luminescent atmospherics. Across the album, Wingfield’s soloing embarks upon a It’s a musical journey that sees him continually seeking out the next moment of dazzling, spontaneous beauty.
By turns ecstatic, dramatic, bold, and emotional, The Gathering is an unwaveringly brilliant piece of work that will add another remarkable chapter to his ongoing story.
credits
releases May 17, 2024
CD and 24bit HD Download
1. The Corkscrew Tower (feat. Tony Levin)
2. Stormlight (feat. Percy Jones)
3. Apparition in the Vaults (feat. Tony Levin + two drummers)
4. A Fleeting Glance (feat. Percy Jones + two drummers
5. Pursued in the Snow Lit Forest (feat. Tony Levin)
6. The Lost Room (feat. Tony Levin)
7. The Listening Trees (feat. Tony Levin)
8. Journey Home (feat. Tony Levin + two drummers
9. Together We Rise (feat. Percy Jone
10. Cinnamon Bird (feat. Percy Jones)
2LP
Side A:
The Corkscrew Tower (feat. Tony Levin)
Stormlight (feat. Percy Jones)
Side B:
Apparition in the Vaults (feat. Tony Levin + two drummers)
A Fleeting Glance (feat. Percy Jones + two drummers
Pursued in the Snow Lit Forest (feat. Tony Levin)
Side C:
The Lost Room (feat. Tony Levin)
The Listening Trees (feat. Tony Levin)
Side D:
Journey Home (feat. Tony Levin + two drummers
Together We Rise (feat. Percy Jone
Cinnamon Bird (feat. Percy Jones)
Mark Wingfield - guitar, soundscapes (all tracks)
Gary Husband - synth & piano (all tracks) and drums (tracks 1, 5, 6)
Asaf Sirkis - drums (all tracks)
Tony Levin - electric upright bass (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Percy Jones - fretless bass guitar (tracks 2, 4, 9, 10)
All songs composed by Mark Wingfield
Recorded by Jesus Rovira at La Casa Murada, Spain
Tony Levin's parts recorded in Kingston NY and Percy Jones' parts were recorded in NYC at their home studios.
Mixed and mastered by Mark Wingfield at Heron Island Studio, UK
Produced by Mark Wingfield.
Executive producer Leonardo Pavkovic
Cover image by The Trio.
Graphic layout by René von Grünig.
5 star reviews in DownBeat, Dec. 2016. Indonesian piano icon Dwiki Dharmawan's album feat. M. WIngfield, N. Meier, G. Atzmon, Y. Stavi, A. Sirkis, B. Savoldelli. Mark Wingfield
Brand new power trio album of touch guitarist Markus Reuter (Stick Men, Devin Townsend, Centrozoon), featuring Fabio Trentini (fretless bass guitar) and Asaf Sirkis (drums). Mark Wingfield
supported by 272 fans who also own “The Gathering feat. Gary Husband, Asaf Sirkis, Tony Levin, Percy Jones”
The live stuff (CD2 'The Ghost Mills') onward is pretty damn excellent. While bringing up the styles reminiscent of all of our favorite jazz fusion bands of old and present, they add their own very original ingredients that makes them fresh and original. In a genre that finds a lot of similar bands PAKT will always leave you guessing and way more times than not, with a grin above your chin. peace [ps- live concert CD options?] tpace
Trumpeter Harry Spencer’s orchestral modern jazz has cinematic scope, inspired here by dissidents throughout history. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 3, 2023