Hannah Horton

“Stories on the Wind”

(Swinging Cat Records SCRCD04)

Hannah Horton – tenor & baritone saxophones, Sam Leak – piano, organ, Rob Statham – electric bass, Steve Taylor – drums, percussion

“Stories on the Wind” is the fourth album release from the British saxophonist and composer Hannah Horton.

Horton released her début album, “Forget Me Not” in 2012 and followed this in 2021 with “Inside Out”, an album favourably reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/hannah-horton-inside-out

“Live in Soho”, documented at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, was released in 2024 and is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/hannah-horton-live-in-soho

The Jazzmann then enjoyed a live performance by Horton and her quartet at the 2024 Wall2Wall Jazz Festival in Abergavenny, an occasion that is reviewed here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/hannah-horton-quartet-wall2wall-jazz-festival-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-theatre-abergavenny-27-09-2024

Endorsed by the Selmer company Horton is a multi-instrumentalist who plays various saxophones in addition to flute, clarinet and bassoon. She studied at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and later at Trinity Laban, where her saxophone tutors included Mark Lockheart, Tim Garland and Paul Bartholomew.

In addition to leading her own projects Horton has also worked prolifically as a sidewoman with vocalists Georgia Mancio, Irene Serra, Tina May, Natalie Williams, Polly Gibbons, Esther Bennett, Fiona Ross, Fleur Stevenson, Vimala Rowe and Ian Shaw, plus guitarists John Etheridge and Louis Thorne. As this list suggests Horton has a particular affinity with singers and her CV also includes performing alongside the late, great Amy Winehouse, when both of them were members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO). Ian Shaw appears as a guest vocalist on two of the nine tracks on Horton’s “Inside Out” album.

In addition to writing and performing Horton also runs J Steps, an organisation designed to nurture the talent of musicians who identify as female or non-binary, it’s main aim being to redress the historic lack of representation of women in jazz. Based in Saffron Walden, Essex, J Steps was the winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Jazz Education in 2023.

Horton describes herself as a “Melodic Maverick” and her original compositions are both accessible and adventurous, combining strong melodic themes with sophisticated rhythmic and harmonic ideas. Typically her compositions are based on personal experiences and many of her pieces have an interesting story behind them.

Horton’s previous albums have featured a mix of original compositions and arrangements of jazz standards and other outside material. “Stories on the Wind” represents a departure from this model and places the emphasis exclusively on Horton’s original writing. Each piece has a specific inspiration or story behind it and these are elaborated upon in Horton’s album liner notes.

The album packaging also includes an essay by Maxine Gordon, the widow of Dexter Gordon, which eulogises both Horton and the late, great jazz organist Shirley Scott (1934 – 2002), a source of inspiration for both Maxine Gordon and Hannah Horton.

Horton herself has the following to say about this new album;
“Stories on the Wind is a deeply personal collection of music, a snapshot of where I am now, both as a person and as an artist. Each piece began as a feeling, a moment, or a story: memories of childhood, love, loss, hope, and the quiet strength that comes from finding your own path. Recording this album at Red Kite Studio in the Welsh hills was magical. We lived, breathed and created together for a week surrounded by wild landscapes, laughter, good food, and the sound of music taking shape. I wanted the recording to feel natural and honest, capturing the space between the notes as much as the notes themselves. This album is also about connection….to the people who’ve inspired and supported me, to those we’ve lost but still feel close to, and to everyone who listens. Music, to me, is storytelling through sound, and I hope these pieces speak to you in some way – maybe as a whisper, maybe as a gust of wind – carrying a story of your own. Thank you for being part of my journey.”

Horton’s quartet has included various personnel over the years including pianists John Crawford, Tim Lapthorn and Sam Leak, bassists Rob Statham and Mirko Scarcia   and drummers Nic France, Jay Davis and Steve Taylor.

The line-up that appears on “Stories on the Wind” features Leak on both piano and organ, long time associate Statham on electric bass and Steve Taylor on drums and percussion.  The album is engineered and co-produced (with Horton) by Martin Levan, whose other credits include work with Barbara Thompson, June Tabor, Neil Ardley and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The new album commences with “Out of the Shadows”, which, in Horton’s own words, addresses “that deep-down feeling when life isn’t going to plan, yet something inside begins to stir, a quiet sense that change is coming. Throughout the track you can feel the hazy uncertainty of the shadows, but also the stronger, driving groove of the bridge which is that glimmer of hope whispering, it’s going to be alright”.
This piece features Horton on tenor, her soloing becoming more forthright and assertive as the track progresses, much in the way that she describes. Leak, Statham and Taylor add solid, suitably propulsive support. Leak, a composer and bandleader in his own right, also impresses as a piano soloist. Overall it represents a strong and convincing start with Horton’s gift for melody, something that was evident on her previous recordings, again immediately apparent.

Horton switches to baritone sax for “Chasing Daisies”, a tune inspired by an old photograph of Horton as a young girl and the theme of childhood innocence. Horton remarks of her composition;
“The melody has that same innocence – simple, lyrical, a touch of folk and nursery rhyme the ends as a round, like children’s voices echoing each other on a summer’s day”.
Horton displays an impressive lightness and agility on baritone as she again shares the soloing with Leak at the piano. Statham and Taylor again provide sympathetic support and as on the opener Taylor adds a wealth of beguiling percussive detail.

Horton features on baritone once more on “Peace Speak”, which its composer describes as  “a call for compassion, a wish for more care, patience, and empathy in the world”. It’s a more forceful piece than its title might suggest with a subtle Latin-esque groove fuelling Horton’s fluent sax soloing. Leak appears on organ and Statham contributes a melodic, Jaco Pastorius inspired electric bass solo.

Leak features on organ again for “Whisper”, a ballad that Horton dedicates to her partner, Nick. Again performed on baritone sax this is a delightfully melodic and lyrical piece with Horton conveying an impressive warmth and fluency on the bari. Leak also features as a soloist, equally impressive on organ as on piano.

Horton returns to tenor for the title track, inspired by the Suffolk countryside where she lives. Here’s what she says about the circumstances that led to the writing of the piece;
“Driving along winding Suffolk lanes one golden evening on the way to a gig, I saw a cloud of dandelion seeds suspended in sunlight. As I passed through, scattering them, I thought: only the wind knows where they’ll land. From there my imagination took flight…the wind carries our thoughts, our secrets, our unspoken hopes. It keeps them safe. Only the wind knows”.
There’s a suitably wistful quality about Horton’s soloing here on another highly melodic and lyrical composition that also finds space for a flowing and expansive piano solo from Leak. Statham and Taylor provide a relaxed groove that again includes evocative sprinklings of small percussive detail.

“Your Rite” draws inspiration from Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, a work that the teenage Horton used to play as a bassoonist. Baritone saxophone is her instrument of choice here and the performance opens with a solo sax cadenza. Horton has said of her writing for this piece;
“I was mesmerised by the opening of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Its raw energy and rebellious spirit inspired this piece, which explores those same instincts through the baritone sax using alternative fingerings, effects, and a bold, percussive groove. The solo cadenza evokes the maiden chosen to dance herself to death, but here the story changes: it becomes about freedom, the right to choose your own path in life”.
The eventual addition of drums, bass and piano sees Horton digging deep as she solos on baritone while Taylor’s drum and percussion are appropriately exotic and richly detailed. Leak is also featured as a piano soloist on what is arguably the most ambitious track on the entire album.

“Fortune Teller” is dedicated to those people who provided financial support for the making of this album.  The tune was developed in the studio at the recording session and is a joyous, Latin-esque romp that serves as a true celebration of Horton’s benefactors. Horton features on tenor but it’s the colourful and vivacious performance of percussionist Taylor that really catches the ear. Leak adds an insidious piano solo while Statham provides a bubbling electric bass groove.

In Horton’s words “Alone” addresses “some of the solitude that comes with being an independent artist — bandleader, booker, promoter, administrator (and everything in between)”. She then adds;  “It can be lonely at times, but the dreamy, floating ending expresses the peace I reach for when it all feels overwhelming, that gentle sense of release and letting go”.
There’s something of a modal or spiritual jazz feel to the piece with Horton specialising on tenor as she and Leak trade melodic phrases above a gently undulating rhythmic groove.

The album concludes with “Remembering Mr Gone”, Horton’s tribute to the late, great Wayne Shorter (1933-2023), written on the occasion of Shorter’s passing. A full quartet version of the tune was recorded, but ultimately a stripped back duo take featuring just baritone sax and piano was used for the album. It’s a sparse but beautiful recording that combines a gentle lyricism with a choked emotion. “When we finished, I was in tears, and so was everyone in the control room”, says Horton of the performance. Both she and Leak give performances that are simultaneously passionate and tightly controlled. Horton also dedicates this piece to the memory of her late father.

As a fan of Horton’s music, both on disc and in live performance, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing this album and would suggest that it represents her most ambitious and most fully realised work to date. Her writing combines accessibility with musical sophistication and is strong in terms of both melody and rhythmic colour and texture. The playing from all four musicians is excellent throughout and Horton’s work on baritone quite exceptional.

“Stories on the Wind” is available for purchase via Horton’s website;
https://hannahhorton.com/

 

blog comments powered by Disqus