Syzygy [LP]

Noel Langley - Syzygy [LP]

“Syzygy” is the second release from acclaimed trumpet player, composer, and producer Noel Langley. It is a collage of spontaneous, intimate jazz duets, poignant melodic vignettes, and ambient cinematic textures, featuring ancient ceremonial instruments. This deeply personal, 15-track spiritual-jazz album celebrates 60 years of music making, an arc that began at just four years old when he first played the cornet in his local Salvation Army brass band. Langley has long been at the apex of the UK jazz scene. A renowned lead trumpet player, he was a member of Loose Tubes, founder of the London Jazz Orchestra, and musical director for Hermeto Pascoal’s London Big Band. He boasts countless credits as a session musician across film, TV, and popular music, collaborating with global superstars including Adele, Radiohead, Lou Reed, and Queens of the Stone Age. In recent years Langley has brought his eclectic experience to the studio as the visionary producer of the award-winning albums of his partner, contemporary jazz artist Yazz Ahmed; skills he now turns towards to his own work. The heart of “Syzygy” was captured during an experimental session with pianist Alcyona Mick at SJE Arts, Oxford in February 2020. Alongside three originals composed for the occasion, Langley includes four free improvisations, with Mick embracing the possibilities of both prepared piano and the slightly wheezy church organ. Unplanned, unrehearsed, and unedited, these duets celebrate pure spontaneity, the raw authenticity of first interpretations, and the alignment - the true syzygy - of two creative minds exploring the magical acoustics of a sacred space. Interspersed between the live duets are the evocative ambient tracks born from Langley's work scoring the documentary May Day (by Mai Hua & Jerry Hyde). Created in his home studio during the pandemic, using only the instruments to hand: a collection of conch shells, trumpets fashioned from animal horns and bones, and percussion instruments gathered on his global travels, he crafted earthy, visceral soundscapes. These musical fragments have been imaginatively repurposed to perfectly balance and develop the overarching narrative of the album. “Syzygy reflects my spiritual journey, away from the structured doctrines of my upbringing towards a more holistic, shamanistic spirituality,” Langley says. “The music is rooted in the wonder and mystery of the natural world, and claiming my place in an unbroken continuum with the elders and ancestors who first lifted a conch shell to their lips to summon the tribe.”

Tracklist

1. Unspoken
2. Lonely Angel Song (ft. Alcyona Mick)
3. All's Fair (ft. Alcyona Mick)
4. Such Sweet Sorrow
5. Palo Santo
6. Beyond Our Ken (ft. Alcyona Mick)
7. Fire Sprite (ft. Alcyona Mick)
8. The Old Church, Llangelynin (ft. Alcyona Mick)
9. Contemplation (ft. Alcyona Mick)
10. Monde Verde (ft. Alcyona Mick)
11. Deer-bone Trumpet, Skin and Feathers
12. Syzygy (ft. Alcyona Mick)
13. The Elders
14. Benediction (ft. Alcyona Mick)
15. Houses to the Sun (ft. Thomas Popiolek)