Saxophonist Phil Bancroft reissues his debut album as a leader, Swings and Roundabouts on his Myriad Streams web platform on Friday 6th September.
Originally released in 1997, Swings and Roundabouts was recorded with English bassist Steve Watts and New York-based drummer Marcello Pellitteri. It was released as one of three albums that announced the arrival of Caber Records, the label formed by Phil’s twin brother, Tom, that would go on to document a very active period in Scottish jazz.
The Bancrofts had been part of a generation of musicians that came of age in the late 1980s. Phil, alongside trumpeter Colin Steele, guitarist Kevin Mackenzie, pianist Brian Kellock, bassist Kenny Ellis and drummer John Rae formed the John Rae Collective, the group that defined the Scottish jazz scene at the time. An album was recorded, and an international distribution deal was put in place, but the fates conspired against it being released.
By 1996, Phil felt ready to make his first album as a leader. Two years earlier he had taken part in brother Tom’s ambitious Europhonium, a loosely organised meeting of international bands, at Glasgow Jazz Festival. There Phil played with Steve Watts for the first time and immediately felt a musical connection. It was an experience that would be repeated when he encountered Pellitteri in New York the following year.
Fired up by meeting Watts and Pellitteri, Phil returned to Scotland and set up a week’s residency at Edinburgh’s then centre of jazz activity, Henry’s Cellar Bar for the trio before they went into the studio to record Swings and Roundabouts. Phil financed everything himself, including his fellow musicians’ travel and accommodation. If, again, the fates conspired against Swings and Roundabouts and it didn't receive the promotion it deserved, Phil looks back at the experience philosophically.
“I went back to square one and started again but on setting up Myriad Streams, I realised I hadn’t heard Swings and Roundabouts for a long time,” he says. “It was a joy to listen to it again and immediately hear the depth of musical connection between the three of us expressed in the vitality of the music and improvisations. I am delighted that this album is now receiving a proper release, over 25 years after it was recorded.”
Swings and Roundabouts comprises five of Phil’s own compositions, including the playful Jiggle and the tender ballad B’s Niece, plus brother Tom’s Space Buffie 1999, Pellitteri’s Rock House, a free improvisation by the trio, and Duke Ellington’s I Got It Bad.
The album was recorded at Pierhouse Studio, Edinburgh by Peter Haigh on 10th and 11th August 1996 and produced by Elliot Meadow. It was mixed by Dave Gray at Sound Cafe studios at Ninemile Burn.