We're long-time admirers of Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty. The duo are best known for their roles within pioneering jazz band, BADBADNOTGOOD, and have worked with some of the world’s greatest talents across a plethora of genres. We were recently lucky enough to get our hands on an exclusive of Tavares' brilliant solo release 'Selfportrait / Portrait of Amanda'. So you can imagine our excitement about this announcement...
Mr Bongo will be releasing their collaborative album 'Visions' on 20th March 2020.
Visions was almost entirely performed and recorded in one take during an intense studio session. The record is a partly-composed, partly-improvised suite of free-flowing music intended to be enjoyed as a complete body of work. Tavares plays piano and guitar, Whitty the saxophone and flute, and the duo are joined by Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Matthew Chalmers on drums.
“With this record, we made a suite of music that combines composition and improvisation from a purely emotional place. Where one starts and the other ends is constantly changing; sometimes entire sections of music are completely improvised and other times completely composed. With the areas between these two approaches blurred, the resulting hour of music has an organic quality. In the past ten years of playing together, we’ve developed an approach that's intuitive rather than intellectual. The record stretches from the extremes of the avant-garde to the gentlest moments of beauty. We hope the listener connects to the vulnerability of the performances on this immensely dynamic record", explain Tavares and Whitty.
Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty are Grammy-winning artists and achieved international acclaim with BADBADNOTGOOD; Tavares was one of the band’s founders before amicably departing in 2019, whilst Whitty remains an active member. Beyond BADBAD, the pair’s credits include music with Kendrick Lamar, Little Simz, Kali Uchis and Kaytranada, plus Tavares' 2018 debut solo album Déjàvu and production work for Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Camilla Cabello and others.
SHIPS 20.03.20.
A1. Through the Looking Glass / A2. Woah / A3. Blue / B1. Symbols of Transformation / B2. Visions of You / C1. Eyes / C2. Awakenings / C3. Heat Of The Moon / D1. Black Magic / D2. Symbols of Transformation II / D3. Living Water Assembly