Visitors to this site will recall the hot tickle featuring Robert Fripp and Theo Travis that created something of a stir amongst some listeners back in January. Since then Theo has been busy working on the album, which is now entitled Double Talk and is scheduled for release in September.
The sax player who works with many jazz and prog luminaries included Gong, Soft Machine Legacy and The Tangent, told me “It is a band album but there is a duet between Robert and a choir of my alto flutes- called The Endless Search, then another soprano sax/wah wah sax and guitar piece - Pallendream, and finally there is a 16 min epic called "Oblivionville" and the central section is 4 mins of soundscapes and a choir of clarinets”
The same improvisation between Theo and Robert is also available on Burning Shed’s very own Theo Travis page where you can catch up on his other projects including his album Earth To Ether (see my review over on the blog)
I also caught up with Theo to ask what he’d been reading recently. “The last book I read was The Rain Before it Falls, the new book by Jonathan Coe.
It is a moving portrayal of the fleeting nature of love and happiness and the complex elements that go into the make up of a child and a person - the legacies of character and history that are handed from one generation to the next. The form of the book is descriptions of twenty old photos which together describe a tragic family history. It is beautifully written and also develops into a thrilling page turner as it gathers pace towards the end.”
And what about recent listening material? “The last album I heard was a Marble Calm - Blue Turns to Grey. A vinyl only release (though I think it might be coming out on CD sometime) on the excellent Dutch Tonefloat label, it features Peter Chilvers’ group with special guests Steve Adey and Sandra O’Neill.
It is stunningly beautiful, calm, gently progressive and rich and deep. The vocal performances are fragile but very powerful, still but passionate and hypnotic. One side is one long piece and the other comprises three pieces - 2 songs and an instrumental. A wonderful album.
I have also been listening quite a bit recently to the Beatles Abbey Road for the ten millionth time - and still I hear more and more in it....As mind blowing as when I first heard it about 30 years ago.”
