Hoop Secret Sessions

• 1 Sinterval 06:54
• 2 Silo 03:12
• 3 Good, Bad Fortune 06:24
• 4 Erin 06:22
• 5 Boz Pity 04:46
• 6 Cultus Lake 07:18
• 7 Ocean Mirage 06:25
• 8 Stop Telling Us What To Do 04:52
• Total Runtime 46:13

Info for Hoop

Sax stalwart Paul Booth is the curator of the Secret Sessions project, which is an outlet for new music that is created, played, and ultimately recorded by grouping like-minded artists and friends together. It works like this…Paul carefully selects a range of highly talented musicians who turn up to the recording studio, only knowing the instrumentation of the music but not knowing who they will be recording with. The result is a dynamic cocktail of spontaneous, exciting, and highly rewarding music.

As Paul explains it, “The response has been staggering and proved just how passionate everyone is about making new music. I sifted through the top musicians available and picked a band utilising trumpet/trombone/tenor sax/piano/bass/drums. It dawned on me that it could be fun to keep them in the dark about who they were going to be recording with on the day…and ‘Secret Sessions’ was born. The only information they had was instrumentation, to aid them in their arrangements and what time and where they needed to be. We began the series with ‘Fragile Eagle’ and had a blast. Now we are onto our second release, ‘Hoop’, with an entirely different set musicians and we are absolutely delighted with the results of this ‘album in an afternoon’ session. We did some post-production work on the tracks, with additional instrumentation added later. However, the core of the music was seven people in a studio playing ‘live’. The music is vastly different from the first ‘Secret Sessions’ release and is reminiscent of the fusion/jazz funk/jazz rock era.”

Tom Walsh describes the project: “The germination of this album came from the core of the band wanting to explore some original music off the back of touring with various pop/rock artists. Having worked together in multiple musical line-ups as sidemen for multiple bandleaders, it made sense to come together and create some music under our own combined leadership! A lot of the players in this outfit are known for their work as top London session players but wanted to revisit their jazz and improvisational roots. ‘Hoop’ presents an album of synth-tinged fusion coming from a group of contemporary jazz musicians with wide musical influences and experiences. Expect everything from powerful horn-led prog rock elements all the way through to gutsy, soulful ballad and blues playing.”

Chris Allard continues: “It has been a huge pleasure and privilege for me to be a part of this album. Paul Booth is an immensely creative and productive force, and his open-minded, generous, and collaborative approach has led to this diverse and exciting recording. I had worked with and been rather awed by the immense talents and reputations of all the musicians involved, but had not recorded with them all, and certainly not together and in such an open, collaborative, and creative project. It has been a very positive and rewarding experience for me and listening back to the recording is deeply gratifying.”

Tom Walsh, trumpet
Nichol Thomson, trombone
Paul Booth, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Chris Allard, guitars
Laurence Cottle, electric bass
Ian Thomas, drums
Additional musicians:
Steve Hamilton, keyboards
Miles Bould, percussion
Ross Stanley, Hammond organ

Paul Booth
From his early acclaim as a prize-winning saxophonist, Paul Booth has continually refined and expanded his talents as a solo artist, composer, arranger and bandleader, whilst establishing an elite reputation as a first-call sideman for major contemporary music artists.

Paul was born in the North East of England, and as a young boy started playing music with his father in the clubs and bars of Southern Spain where the family were temporarily residing. On his return home, he discovered the local jazz scene and fell in love with the music and the art of improvisation. As a homeschooled child he was able to fit all his studies around music, enabling him to sit his GCSE and A-Level exams early. He won a place at the Royal Academy of Music in 1993 at the age of 16, becoming their youngest student on a degree course. That year Paul also won the 'Best Modern Jazz Player’ category at the televised Young Jazz Player of the Year.

Over the next four years at the Academy, Paul combined his studies with gigs in London and across the UK, that included a long association with Colombian percussionist Roberto Pla and a partnership with pianist Alex Wilson that’s still going strong. During his third year, Paul won the prestigious Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship in Miami USA, and spent a six month exchange in Perth at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts. Following his graduation in 1997, Paul immersed himself in the world of the professional musician. He eventually joined the European Glenn Miller Orchestra for eight tours, before landing the saxophone chair for the worldwide smash hit show, Riverdance, staying for eighteen months. In 2005 Paul toured the US and Japan with Basia and Matt Bianco, and soon after received the call from Steve Winwood with whom he has been working ever since.

In 2004 Paul released his first solo album ‘It’s Happening’, which was followed by the albums ‘No Looking Back’ (2007), ‘Pathways’ (2009) and ‘Trilateral’ (2011) Patchwork Project (2015). All of which were extremely well received available through his own Pathway Records label.

Paul’s ability to blend into any musical surrounding coupled with his talents as a multi-instrumentalist has led to him being regularly chosen to perform with many well-known artists. Paul has toured, performed & recorded around the world with The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers Band, Bonnie Raitt, Chaka Khan, Kylie Mingoue, Jamiroquai, Gregory Porter, Barry Manilow, Warren Haynes, Marti Pellow, Derek Trucks, Eddie Henderson, Geoffrey Keezer, Clarence Penn and Ingrid Jensen. He has worked with Incognito, Brand New Heavies, The BBC Big Band, Michael Janisch Quintet and the Ryan Quigley Quintet and so many more.

Paul currently performs his own music with a number of different groups:

The critically acclaimed Patchwork Project, featuring the singer Jacqui Dankworth, Giorgio Serci (guitar), Rod Youngs (drums), Davide Mantovani (bass) & Satin Singh (percussion). Their first album was released in 2015, with Volume 2 to follow in 2019.

The world music big band Bansangu Orchestra, for whom Paul is co-founder and musical director. Their eponymous debut album was released August 2018.

A newly-formed quartet with Steve Hamilton (keyboards), Dave Whitford (double bass) and Andrew Bain (drums).

And finally, Paul leads an organ trio with Ross Stanley (organ) and Andrew Bain (drums).

This album contains no booklet.