Most young trumpeters play fast, loud and shrill. Not Matthew Halsall. This tranquil Mancunian harks back to the golden age of Miles Davis — such pre-electric masterpieces as Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain — and the contemplative John Coltrane of Crescent and After the Rain.

Solemn despite his jaunty US train-driver’s cap, Halsall pays unusual attention to note placement,
pausing for thought before each solo and fully controlling the timbre of his horn. The result is jazz of unfashionable beauty and lyricism.

Helping him create this last night was a sextet of northern stars including soprano and tenor saxist Nat Birchall, pianist Adam Fairhall and not least harpist Rachael Gladwin. A charming individualist with a fetching silk gardenia in her hair, she evoked an Alice Coltrane ambience by playing some of the hippest harp London had heard for years.

Some of her mid-range octave passages sounded like Wes Montgomery stretching out on guitar.

Halsall’s themes — Colour Yes, I Found Joy, Fletcher Moss Park — were original, but firmly in the Miles & Trane tradition. With two albums online on Gondwana Records and “enough material for two more”, he’s worth checking out.

Newsom’s meandering songs are rooted in British folk tunes and Renaissance madrigals, but they can branch in unexpected directions. The singer’s current backup quintet is led by guitarist Ryan Francesconi, who also arranged the material on her vast new album, “Have One on Me.” Francesconi’s approach is to let Newsom be Newsom — whether playing harp or piano — and to underscore some moments with swells of sound. The drums would clatter and recede, the trombone bleat, the two violins screech briefly. On “Baby Birch,” Newsom’s anti-rock style was even buffeted by fleeting electric-guitar clangs.

In a 90-minute set that had space for only 11 songs, such old favorites as “Lily” and “The Book of Right-On” were given the same treatment as the new material. With her upper range less squeaky than it once was, Newsom sounded something like a mid-20th-century art-song performer — Lotte Lenya by way of Joni Mitchell. She’s also a jam band of a singer-songwriter, soloing on and on and rarely getting to the, or a, point.

Newsom is an original, and a skilled player. But the audience’s rapturous applause seemed to reward her as much for eccentricity as accomplishment.

– Mark Jenkins

The Reverie Harp® is quickly being embraced in children’s hospitals,
chemotherapy units, maternity wards, surgery recovery, hospice centers and by
music therapists as a music therapy tool to calm and comfort patients.

Ann Bergstrom, a chaplain for Walker Elder Suites in Minneapolis, Minnesota
explains, “The harp makes a really pleasing sound that defuses stress and
brings calmness.”

The harp is small, lightweight and easy to hold. It’s smooth, egg-like shape
is inviting and designed to be held on a lap or shared between two players,
such as a music therapist and patient. Its unique design requires no skill to
play, yet produces beautiful, soothing harmonies with the stroke of a finger.
When held, the vibrations penetrate the body.

“We designed this instrument in response to a bedside music therapy caregiver
who asked for a simple instrument that his patients could play and become more
engaged in the music and the moment,” says Matt Edwards, who spearheaded the
project. “This instrument allows patients – no matter how frail – to become
actively involved in creating soothing, healing music.”

The Reverie Harp® is a universal instrument that requires no practice or
musical training because it is tuned to a pentatonic (five-tone) scale in
which all notes harmonize to create pleasing melodies. As a result, there are
no wrong notes to play and people are captivated by this simple instrument.
Care-givers from around the world are sharing stories of how this new
instrument is helping people relax, restore, and relate.

The Reverie Harp was invented at Musicmakers Kits, Inc.; a small music company
based in Stillwater, Minnesota, and is marketed world-wide via the company’s
catalog and website (www.harpkit.com). Musicmakers specializes in unusual
stringed instruments not found in traditional music stores, such as: folk
harps, dulcimers, psalteries, kalimbas, hurdy gurdies, and more. All
instruments can be purchased ready-to-play, or as kits you assemble yourself
at home. The Reverie Harp retails at $499.

SOURCE Musicmakers Kits, Inc.

Lindsay Strand, +1-952-936-7595, lindsay@lindsaystrand.com, for Musicmakers
Kits, Inc.

Full contact details are below:

Clive Morley Harps Ltd

Tel: +44 (0) 1367 860493
Fax: +44 (0) 1367 860659
Email: harps@morleyharps.com

You can also send us an online enquiry via our online enquiry form page.

Directors CR Morley, KM Morley, BRD Morley. Company Registered in London No. 2226753.
Registered Office: Greyfriars Court, Oxford, OX1 1BB. Incorporating the Harp Business of J Geo Morley. VAT No GB494 – 2429 – 25