British keyboardist/hornist Django Bates emerged as one of the bright young stars during the 90s after stints with drummer Bill Bruford's "Earthworks" amid his past and ongoing work with "Human Chain." A shrewd composer, whether writing for big band or small ensemble, here Bates uses the "London Sinfonietta" strings orchestra, as well as the "Human Chain" septet and the "Apollo Saxophone Quartet."
Bates discloses that the premise for this recording emanates from the "BBC World Service" news channel. In effect, the artist listens to this news service while writing music. And with this outing, Bates ventures into a "third stream" framework, featuring bustling symphonic arrangements, supplanted by a generic vibe that might be considered standard fare for typical news broadcasts. However, Bates and his musical associates expound upon these sort of movements that hearken notions of a busy world at work. To that end, the musicians meld modern jazz riffs with the orchestra's melodramatically inclined passages. There's an abundance of peaks, valleys and sublime moments here, but an unending sense of movement permeates much of the proceedings. No doubt, Bates conveys a mood-evoking climate. As he abides by a multilateral mindset, consisting of reflective opuses and subtle deconstructions of various motifs. Not to mention the musicians cunning contrapuntal maneuvers! Chalk it all up to more good news from an artist, whose recorded output has subsided a bit since the advent of the new millennium.
