QOW TRIO, the jazz collective featuring Turin Brakes bassist Eddie Myer is releasing a new album this year. The Hold Up will be released on 26th January 2024. It is the second album for the trio, after their debut was released on Ubuntu Music in 2020.
In 2023, QOW Trio came off the road from a stormingly successful tour of Ireland and went straight into the Fish Factory studio in Harlesden (London), under the expert guidance of engineer Ben Lamdin. Taking full advantage of the spacious live room, the band set up together, with no headphones or separation, allowing the music to breathe organically and the interplay to develop in real time. The session resulted in The Hold Up – an album of tunes that digs deep into the blues and flies high up into the heady heights of improvised freedom, always keeping the empathetic three-way interplay and commitment to swing and melody at the forefront. The group’s development since the first record is plain to hear – there’s more freedom, but also more togetherness, more experimentation, but also more commitment to the fundamentals of the blues. Compositions by Ellington and Strayhorn, Jackie Mclean, Lee Morgan, Thelonious Monk and Big John Patton are radically overhauled, stripped down to the bones and built back up into new forms, where anything can happen: and a new set of original tunes by Riley provide launch pads for exploratory improvisations and soulful self-expression. The passion and commitment is never in doubt throughout – this is music by players who mean it.
You can stream two songs from the album on their Bandcamp now.
About working with the band, Eddie says: “This band is such a joy to play with – every gig feels like an adventure, and this new recording really captures that feeling.”
The album can be pre-ordered at various stores on LP or CD, for example at Proper Music.
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