Guitarist and composer Jonny Phillips’ Oriole features a unique set of musicians chosen for their musical openness, empathetic playing and ability to assimilate folkloric styles into a contemporary sound. First formed in 2004 their members represent something of a F-IRE collective super group, albeit one whose sound is a million miles from the left-field jazz often associated with that ground breaking collective.
Featuring Jonny Phillips – spanish guitar, Alam Nathoo – tenor sax, Ben Davis – cello, Ruth Goller – bass, Nick Ramm – piano and Polar Bear’s Seb Rochford on drums
On their recently released third album Every New Day you can almost feel the sun passing overhead as Oriole undertakes a musical journey through parched landscapes influenced by the Iberian peninsular where their composer spent the last few years performing with Spanish, Portuguese and Cuban musicians. This music is warm, not only in its Latin rhythms and alto tonalities but also in the musical interplay of these long-time musical friends.
Record Collector “Ravishingly beautiful” ****
BBC Music Magazine “Outstanding” *****