Akhenaten

A 4 track free improvisation album (35m 27s) — released June 17th 2016 on Jazzman

Akhenaten was the first album Nat Birchall released via the then brand-new Gondwana Records label in Manchester. Originally only released on CD this is the first time this classic recording has been made available on vinyl.

The album on the whole features a quartet, and is expanded to a quintet on the title track where UK trumpet virtuoso Matthew Halsall joins in with a stunning solo. The album explores deep, hymn-like themes at length, finding much to say on the relatively simple melodies and arrangements.

Nat and his fellow band members play here with the selfless motivation and focus that's required to allow them to tap deep into the human psyche, producing music that is soulful and stately. Very different from most modern jazz styles played nowadays, the music has a timeless beauty that will stand the test of time.

The album was enthusiastically received by music fans and critics alike, being unanimously hailed as a modern classic. Now is the time to hear this magnificent work, utilising the unique atmospherics and sonic presence that only vinyl can provide.

"An album so exceptional it fell down the cracks of the Mojo filter...
spatial sunship beauty...expansive and dreamy...lyrical heat haze
hypnotism...this is the record you should be expanding the collective
consciousness of the neighbours with. Truly transcendental."
MOJO - Disc of the day 16/07/09

"Mindblowing work...a deeply spiritual player who comes off
beautifully on this set..Birchall blows with a range of feeling that
takes us back to the 70s best of Pharoah Sanders, Billy Harper and
Clifford Jordan...hitting a groove that lets Birchall's horn blossom
wonderfully in sound - reaching forth with
rich tones that are simply wonderful...."
Dusty Groove USA

"Akhenaten is a beautifully stately performance...from the gentle 3/4
of "Nica's Dance" to the closing "Many Blessings"
Brian Morton, The Wire Magazine

"Outstanding and most enthralling...Birchall is a wonderful player
who wears his heart on his sleeve and plays with much warmth and
sincerity"
Tony Hall, Jazzwise Magazine.

"Strikingly impressive...Birchall sounds amazingly soulful, each solo
gathering intensity as it progresses. There's an endearing lack of
tricksiness, with everything serving the spacey aesthetic of the
overall project"
Phil Johnson, The Independent On Sunday

" A quite remarkable album, Birchall captures the hypnotic flow of
John Coltrane wonderfully on four extended hymn-like explorations.
Think of Coltrane's stark masterpiece "Alabama" or parts of "A Love
Supreme".
Chris Yates, Jazz UK

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