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Gavin Barras
Born in Kendal, Cumbria Gavin Barras studied music at the University of Manchester, receiving private tuition from Roberto Carillo-Garcia and Corin Long. Whist studying classical music Gavin continued developing his love for jazz and received lessons from Steve Berry in jazz bass. Gavin is a busy working musician, actively involved in several recording and touring projects both in the UK and abroad. His influences on bass include Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, Charlie Haden, Christian McBride, George Mraz, Hein van de Geyn and electric bassist Jaco Pastorius. Gavin is also heavily influenced by Chet Baker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Enrico Pieranunzi and Billy Higgins. He has performed at jazz festivals such as London, Manchester, Brecon, Glasgow, Wigan, Southport and Birmingham. Overseas he has appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands and in 2010 travelled to Taiwan to perform at the Taipai International Jazz Festival. Recent and forthcoming venues Gavin has performed at include Ronnie Scott’s (London), Pizza Express Jazz Club (London), The Vortex (London), Royal Festival Hall (London), King’s Place (London), Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club (Manchester), The Bridgewater Hall (Manchester), Symphony Hall (Birmingham), Dizzy’s Jazz Club (Rotterdam), Sounds Jazz Club (Brussels), Music Village (Brussels), Cafe Alto (Amsterdam). Gavin has played with musicians such as saxophonists Tim Garland, Dave O’Higgins, Iain Dixon and Ed Jones; trumpeters Neil Yates and Steve Waterman; pianists Les Chisnall, Dan Whieldon, Rick Simpson and Zoe Rahman; guitarists Mike Walker, Stuart McCallum, Gary Boyle and Mike Outram; drummers Luke Flowers, Dave Walsh, Jon Scott, Pat Illingworth and Eryl Roberts. Gavin is currently a member of several groups including EU4, Dan Whieldon Trio, Jadid Ensemble, Sarah Ellen Hughes Band, 6Pac Jazz Sextet, Nat Birchall Band, Matthew Halsall Band, Unfurl and Steve Plews Trio. A founding member of the jazz quartet EU4, Gavin has toured the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium. The band features musicians from Slovakia, Germany, Holland and the UK and they recorded their debut album in 2008 on GLP Records. Their second album was released on the Netherlands’ OAP Records in October 2011. Recorded near Amsterdam, it features original compositions by Gavin and the rest of the band. As a member of the Matthew Halsall Quintet Gavin has featured on three critically acclaimed albums and, in 2011 appeared on Jamie Cullum’s BBC Radio 2 jazz show. He has also been involved in several live sessions for BBC 6 Music and for Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Show on BBC Radio One with both the Matthew Halsall and Nat Birchall Bands.
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Matthew Halsall: Bright Sparkling Light
by Geno Thackara
Like an author adding a surprise epilogue when you thought the novel was all wrapped up, Matthew Halsall turns out to still have another turn up his sleeve. An Ever Changing View (Gondwana, 2023) offered the musical equivalent of a seaside creative retreat--the kind of vacation that inevitably seems too short, yet would also feel less special if it actually went on much longer. Fortunately there turned out to be enough unused material to make a complementary EP alongside the ...
read moreMatthew Halsall: An Ever Changing View
by Geno Thackara
Whatever view Matthew Halsall is sharing here, it is drawn from life and correspondingly picturesque--not just always changing, but always colorful and fascinating. This View comes partly from the sea-and-sky vistas he enjoyed while creating it, splitting time between England and Wales. Partly, it also comes from a couple of years collecting a trove of percussive odds-and-ends, and cheerfully playing with all the organic sounds they offered. Tinkering with those tones, with no strict framework in mind, he produces a ...
read moreMatthew Halsall: An Ever Changing View
by Chris May
Based in the northern English city of Manchester, trumpeter Matthew Halsall debuted on record in 2008 with Sending My Love (Gondwana), a stylish take on the meditative end of the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. Halsall's emergence pre-dated by over half a decade that of the London alternative scene vanguarded by musicians such as Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings, and his trajectory has continued to progress quite apart from it. This is unusual in England, a small ...
read moreJasmine Myra: Horizons
by Chris May
Unlike America, a country big enough to support multiple, more or less autonomous jazz scenes, England, like its European neighbours, is more suited to supporting a single centre. However, by a combination of talent and perseverance, a few artists have managed to create regional scenes which flourish independently of London. One such artist is the trumpeter, producer and record label director Matthew Halsall (interviewed here), who is based in the northern city of Manchester. Halsall's own albums ...
read moreMatthew Halsall: Salute To The Sun
by Chris May
Trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall is an inspirational figure on the British scene, as a musician and as the founder of the successful Gondwana Records label. Based in the northern city of Manchester, two hundred miles and a lifestyle away from London, Halsall debuted in 2008 with Sending My Love, on which he unveiled his distinctive spiritual-jazz take on the less-is-more modalism and lustrous sound of Miles Davis circa Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959). Since then, Halsall's bands have accelerated ...
read moreTake Five With Gavin Barras
by Gavin Barras
Meet Gavin Barras: Born in Kendal, Cumbria in the UK, bassist Gavin Barras studied music at the University of Manchester, receiving private tuition from Roberto Carillo-Garcia and Corin Long. Whist studying classical music, Gavin continued developing his love for jazz and received lessons from Steve Berry in jazz bass. Gavin is a busy working musician, actively involved in several recording and touring projects both in the UK and abroad.Instrument(s): Double bass and bass guitar.
read moreGavin Barras Quintet Releases "Day Of Reckoning"
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Gavin Barras
GAVIN BARRAS QUINTET
NEW ALBUM – Day of Reckoning (ASC Record) Release Date: June 11, 2012 As excitement builds for the launch of Gavin Barras’s latest album, Day of Reckoning, ASC Records are proud to confirm that saxophonist Ed Jones is a major feature of the album. Also featuring Dave Walsh on drums, Corey Mwamba on vibes and Steve Plews, piano The album was inspired by the riots and violence that spread throughout the country last summer. Gavin explains: “On ...
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Day of Reckoning
From: Day of ReckoningBy Gavin Barras