over the course of four albums, manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and band-leader matthew halsall has carved out a niche for himself on the uk music scene as one of it s brightest talents. his languid, soulful music has won friends from jamie cullum and gilles peterson to jazz fm and mojo as well as an ever-growing international following. his label gondwana records is home to gogo penguin and his own albums have found halsall exploring the modal jazz of john and alice coltrane, paying tribute to the hard bop of the late ’50s and early ’60s or most recently on fletcher moss park drawing on eastern influences in his most personal statement yet. his latest album when the world was one is something of a companion piece to fletcher moss park (much of the music was written at the same time) but draws more explicitly on halsall’s love of spiritual jazz and eastern music as well as his own studies in meditation and travels in japan. beautifully recorded at hasall’s favourite studio, 80 hertz in manchester, and engineered by brendan williams and george atkins it features the recording debut of halsall’s large ensemble, the gondwana orchestra, which utilises the exotic flavours of harp, koto and bansuri flute and eastern scales to create a global palate for halsall’s life-affirming sounds.
