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Stuart McCallum

'Stuart McCallum is simply the most talented and original guitarist that I have ever heard' (Brian Bicat JATP)

Stuart's original use of loops and effects combined with his extensive harmonic knowledge make him one of the most in demand guitarists on the scene today.

He has recorded with The Cinematic Orchestra, Ari Hoenig, Tim Garland and Don Weller and has performed, to critical acclaim, with the likes of Kenny Wheeler, John Surman and Mike Gibbs.

His music covers both ends of the emotional spectrum - from mesmerising beauty to explosively turbulent energy.

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3
Album Review

Slowly Rolling Camera: Flow

Read "Flow" reviewed by Geno Thackara


At first glance, it looks like an album they were always destined to make. Natural flow has been one central characteristic of Slowly Rolling Camera since the start. From their beginnings in quasi-trip-hop/jazztronica fusion, through a shift into a picturesque instrumental outfit, they have always been effortlessly fluid and comfortable with a good slow burn. They have seemed to be following a sort of elemental theme as well, with Juniper (Edition, 2018) setting down some earthy roots and Where the ...

Album Review

Stuart McCallum & Mike Walker: The Space Between

Read "The Space Between" reviewed by Vic Albani


Già piuttosto impegnati con le rispettive formazioni in cui militano attualmente (l'uno con Cinematic Orchestra e Slowly Rolling Camera, l'altro con Impossible Gentlemen e Printmakers), i “due di Manchester" ci riprovano e un paio di anni dopo il precedente Beholden, ripropongono un nuovo CD chitarristico. Parliamo di Stuart McCallum e Mike Walker, amici di vecchia data e tra i più attivi chitarristi nel contemporaneo dell'area jazzistica e para-jazzistica britannica. Momenti pastorali abbelliti da appena accennati archi, cadenzate ...

2
Album Review

Stuart McCallum & Mike Walker: The Space Between

Read "The Space Between" reviewed by Roger Farbey


The Space Between is the follow-up album to this intriguing guitar duo's first album from 2014, Beholden. Both of these British guitarists, long-time friends hailing from the North West of England (the Greater Manchester area to be precise) probably need no introduction since they've been making waves on the jazz scene and beyond for years. The opener, paradoxically entitled “And Finally" begins with a melody that teasingly almost perverts that most well-known theme from Beethoven's “Ode To Joy." ...

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Extended Analysis

Stuart McCallum: City

Read "Stuart McCallum: City" reviewed by Phil Barnes


Much of what passes for progressive radio programming, whether that be traditional live to air or internet stations, has been pushed into genre ghettos in recent times--where a record can be enormous within a particular scene but invisible to 99.9% of the world at large. Even in Europe, where the genre constrained formats common in the USA didn't take hold until relatively recently, it feels as if anything that does not fit a mainstream pop template has been farmed out ...

2
Album Review

Stuart McCallum: Distilled Live

Read "Distilled Live" reviewed by Chris May


Emerging from the interzone inhabited by post-Pat Metheny guitar jazz, electronica, minimalism and ambient, Manchester guitarist Stuart McCallum's music combines the lush, the layered and the looped with real-time emotional engagement and vigor. Made with a large ensemble including acoustic string and woodwind sections alongside the electronica, Distilled Live sounds rather like an orchestrated version of Steve Reich's shimmeringly beautiful “Electric Counterpoint," written for Metheny and recorded by him in 1987 (and also available in a brilliantly articulated concert recording ...

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Album Review

Stuart McCallum: Distilled

Read "Distilled" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Distilled is a beautifully atmospheric recording, the third album from Stuart McCallum, best known for his work with the Cinematic Orchestra. The Manchester-based guitarist/composer knows how to combine established and contemporary sounds, making them into music that is never less than fascinating and, at its best, a thing of breathtaking beauty. Much of the beauty of this album comes from McCallum's ability to blend instruments together to form a sound that is both cooperative and undifferentiated--a process ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Flow

Edition Records
2023

buy

The Space Between

Edition Records
2017

buy

The Space Between

Edition Records
2016

buy

The Seventh Tree

Ash Records
2013

buy

The Ultimate Form

Ash Records
2013

buy

Part 3

From: Distilled
By Stuart McCallum

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