SoulMusic Records-Digital is excited to release “Mosaics,” the first full length album by Al Lloyd & His Orchestra, following up the November 2022 critically acclaimed EP ‘A Moment In Time.’
Arranger, composer and saxophonist Al Lloyd has created “Mosaics” with his Orchestra, a full powerhouse Big Band, made up of five saxophones, seven brass and a rhythm section, with Lloyd at the helm either on piano, saxophone, or conducting. The album features nine tracks including four originals penned by Lloyd and five of his arrangements of others work, including Motown classics and Big Band Standards.
With Al’s diverse range of influences including jazz composer Duke Ellington to legendary Motown songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland, ‘Mosaics’ features an instrumental version of The Stylistics’ ‘Peek-a-Boo’ (which is Lloyd’s tribute to Thom Bell who passed late 2022) with two covers of Four Tops’ classics, a reworked jazz rendition of ‘7 Rooms of Gloom’ and a vocal and Big Band rendition of the 1964 classic ‘Ask the Lonely’.
Kicking off with the musical satire of ‘Eastern Haze’ (Lloyd’s response to the unsettling developments of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), the album continues with the chaotic ‘Splatford Split’, another original which begins to feature some of the talented soloists in the band. Other originals include ‘Waltz For 154’ and a Big Band version of the Bacharach-styled ‘You Don’t Have to Prove I’m a Fool’ which features vocals by Emma Watson.
Two more arrangements including a complete reworking of the Charlie Barnet Big Band standard ‘Skyliner’ and a funk infused ‘jam session’ on Sun Ra’s ‘Where Pathways Meet’ features the impressive improvisation skills of the musicians as well as the arrangements of Al Lloyd.
Personnel:
Saxophones: Ved Jan Kumar, Nicky Pilkington, Dave Griffiths, Cat North, Will Paley
Trumpets: Matt Sherwood, Sam Massey, Felix Martin, Josie Sherwood
Trombones: Andy Dore, Isaac Winyard, Jack Jones
Piano/Arrangements: Al Lloyd
“Mosaics” is distributed digitally worldwide by Warner X;
(P) & (C), 2023, SoulMusic Records in association with Al Lloyd