Blue-in-Green:RADIO

Friday 1 November 2019

'Rise Of The Spidermonkey' by Andy Davies


'Rise Of The Spidermonkey' is the new release from trumpeter Andy Davies who has steadily developed an esteemed reputation as a creative and preeminent live performer in UK jazz.

Born in Swansea but now living in London, Davies’s trumpet has taken him to stages across the world including Japan, Turkey, Portugal, Spain and Italy and now a regular at Ronnie Scott’s and frequent host of the Ronnie Scott’s Late Night Jam Sessions.  A fervent live performer, Davies has always found unique ways to inject his charm and personality into his performances - even in his hilarious 2018 mockumentary examining the life of fictitious fame-hungry trumpeter, Louis Horne, Davies's charisma shine through.

A natural performer, a natural entertainer, it's now another notch in the belt for Davies' effervescent energy to be successfully captured for his first full-length project.

'Rise Of The Spidermonkey' is brought to life with an incredible array of London-based musicians comprising the band: the innovative drummer Saleem Raman, currently riding high from the release of SEN3's awesome 'Volume II' album appears throughout, as does Jazz Re:freshed's stand-up bassist, Daniel Casimir, again, also receiving plaudits for his release with vocalist Tess Hirst, 'These Days', and with a lengthy list of collaborators including Blue Lab Beats, Jasmine Power and Binker Golding.  The revered musician and composer Benet McLean lends his talents on the violin  to the album, and rounding out the contributors is the co-founder and creative director of Soho.Live Studios, pianist Nathan Britton.

The album is an excursion into hard bop bliss with a mix of songs celebrating Davies' inspirations with uptempo numbers like 'Big T' and 'Gino's Run' paired with lush ballads like 'We'll Be Together Again'.  Andy Davies' debut album serves as an exciting project backed by a veritable dream team of musicians so all that's left to say is "long live the Spidermonkey".

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