New album Imaginary Dances

it's out now on the Staytuned label. Available now at www.jazzcds.co.uk

What the reviewers had to say:

JAZZ UK:
" This album is expansive in scope, yet pays careful attention to detail. One is struck by the immediacy of the tunes and the fertility of ideas. Rapid changes of mood and pace create a constant sense of surprise. Capital of the World, which disrupts a gliding samba with punchy, dramatic riffs, is typically packed with incident. Other pieces emulate the dash and elegance of dance (Fred Astaire and Busby Berkeley are both honoured with tunes) with quirky transcendent themes, or glow with gentle lyricism".

JAZZ REVIEW:
" The music slides in upon you with a mixture of imagination and craftsmanship that is irresistible. Lockheart's writing demands plenty of the musicians and equally, deserves the concentration of the listener. For while these pieces are overwhelmingly compositional, little themes and figures emerge unexpectedly from the score in a way that suggests improvisation, instant flickers of ideas which seem to keep their immediacy on the sheet".

THE TIMES:
" Imaginary Dances is full of skittering rhythms and stabbing brass and even a tender soprano-piano duet. The arrangements are inspired and imaginative and doubtless the band is a glorious racket live".

Cheltenham Jazz Festival Reviews

The Arrival of a new world order

World music is becoming ever more prominent at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. The influence of world music was most strongly felt this year in the Scratch Band, led by former Loose Tubes saxophonist Mark Lockheart. The eight -part festival commission he composed for this group bore some telltale Loose Tubes signs.

It featured abrupt tempo changes; folksy, busy counter-melodies under lurching jazzy horn lines; and a blend of the bluesy and the rustic. But it also marked the maturing of Lockheart as an ambitious composer.

The suite was a compelling melange and had Tubesy clamour; dark, urgent bass ostinatatos with fast, car-chase horn themes on top; long brass fanfares reminiscent of Mike Gibbs and Carla Bley.

In Roland Sutherland, pianist Huw Warren, saxophonist Rob Townsend and Lockheart himself, the band has improvisers of real character.

John Fordham, The Guardian May 2nd 2000

Timing it just right

It took three movements of Mark Lockhearts new festival commission for a four-beat rhythm to turn up, as the first two of the eight dances for his 11-piece Scratch Band were written in six and three respectively. Lockheart's inventive writing was matched by his strong team of well-rehearsed players, built around the core of his regular band Perfect Houseplants.

Most effective was the slow movement "From Another Time" where the brass section contrasted with reeds, guitar and piano.

Alyn Shipton, The Times May 2nd 2000