Martin Speake Big Band

“Hidden Vision – the arrangements of Charlie Rees”

Martin Speake (alto saxophone and compositions)
Martin Hathaway (alto saxophone/flute)
Charlie Rees (tenor/soprano saxophone)
Alyson Cawley (tenor saxophone/flute)
Duncan Lamont Jr.(baritone saxophone/bass clarinet)
Louis Dowdeswell (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Andy Greenwood (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Tom Dennis (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Steven Nichols (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Mark Nightingale (trombone)
Jeremy Price (trombone)
Martin Gladdish (trombone)
Simon Minshall (bass trombone)
Mike Outram (guitar)
Emil Viklicky (piano)
Matt Ridley (bass)
Tom Hooper (drums)
Scott Stroman - conductor

Released in June 2026 “Hidden Vision” is the latest album release from alto saxophonist, composer, improviser and educator Martin Speake.

Born in 1958 Speake first came to prominence in the late 1980s with the saxophone quartet Itchy Fingers. He subsequently embarked on a highly productive solo career, releasing more than thirty albums as a leader or co-leader in formats ranging from duo to this latest big band release. Many of these recordings have been issued on Speake’s own Pumpkin record label.

The Jazzmann has covered numerous Speake recordings and live performances over the years, these with a variety of different line-ups. His output has been consistently interesting and admirably diverse, ranging from the relatively straight ahead to free improvisation and usually with the emphasis on original music rather than jazz standards.

He has collaborated with many of the leading names in British jazz and also with international artists such as pianists Ethan Iverson and Bobo Stenson and drummers Paul Motian and Jeff Williams. Meanwhile the Secret Quartet was a transatlantic alliance teaming Speake and pianist Nikki Iles with the Canadian rhythm pairing of Duncan Hopkins (bass) and Anthony Michelli (drums).

I believe that I’m correct in stating that “Hidden Vision” represents Speake’s first big band recording as a leader.  In the following extracts sourced from his Bandcamp page he describes the circumstances behind the recording of the album thus;

“A collaboration that has been 6 years in the making. I met Charlie Rees in 2020 when he was a student at the Royal Academy of Music and in addition to being a saxophone player he had been arranging music since he was thirteen years old. I had always wanted others to arrange my music and see what they come up with and how they develop my melodies.
I began to give Charlie lead sheets of some of my tunes and he began arranging some for big band. He was not getting any opportunity at RAM to arrange for big band so he was very keen to do it for me. I was lead alto saxophonist in the London Jazz Orchestra and we played monthly at the Vortex jazz club so that gave me an opportunity to bring Charlie’s arrangements in to rehearsals for the band to play. 
His writing was becoming more and more developed the more tunes I gave him so I realised I needed to document this collaboration. I assembled a big band and trombonist Mark Nightingale told me about a wonderful room to record in at Eleanor Holles School in London and that Chris Traves would record it. This turned out to be an excellent recommendation. We recorded in one room, live and in one day.
Eight pieces that Charlie had arranged are all on the album, including the standard Where Are You? that Charlie has developed from my arrangement in my small group.
It was a very joyous occasion for me recording this album with such high level and focused players.”

Charlie Rees, currently resident in Germany was the winner of the 2025 Eddie Harvey Jazz Arranger Award for large ensemble and his skill and attention to detail is apparent throughout this recording. His abilities are certainly appreciated by Speake who has commented; “Hearing my tunes take on a new life with Charlie’s musical imagination is very exciting for me”.

The admiration is mutual with Rees remarking;
“He received every chart that I produced along the way with enthusiasm, always open to my ideas while never dictating how I should approach his compositions. He even gave me free rein to arrange the pieces I wanted to and he is such a prolific composer that I was spoiled for choice. To be trusted with so much creative control made my job a total joy!”

The album commences with “Bill Wrathall”, Speake’s dedication to the saxophone repairer of the same name. One is immediately struck by the richness and colour of Rees’ arrangements and his skilful deployment of ensemble textures. Czech pianist Emil Viklicky, another musician who is something of a Jazzmann favourite, makes a substantial contribution to this track and is one of the featured soloists, as is bassist Matt Ridley. The co-leaders are also featured with Speake soloing on alto and Rees on tenor. This opening tune builds up a considerable head of steam during its latter stages, with drummer Tom Hooper enjoying a feature towards the close.

Five of the eight tunes that Rees has arranged for this album first appeared in a very different form on the 2015 double set “Always a First Time”, a trio recording featuring guitarist Mike Outram, who also plays on this Big Band album, and drummer Jeff Williams, who has also acted as a mentor to Rees.  It’s this recording that first introduced Rees to Speake’s music and it’s obviously a very important album for the young arranger. Rees’ arrangement of “Always a First Time” itself is more muted than that of “Bill Wrathall” and commences with the sound of an unaccompanied, pastoral sounding horn chorale with the rhythm section sitting our entirely. Even after the addition of double bass and brushed drums the mood remains subdued, the focus of the arrangement being on colour and texture, the sound lush and melancholic with the use of flutes and flugels notable in the arrangement. The piece incorporates fluent solos from Tom Dennis on flugelhorn and Speake on alto sax.

Presumably dedicated to the American pianist rather than the Welsh rugby player “Keith Jarrett” picks the energy levels up once more. A rousing arrangement incorporates solos for Mark Nightingale on trombone, Speake on alto sax and, of course Viklicky on piano. Outram features with a brief guitar cameo at the beginning while drummer Hooper is a driving presence throughout.

Also originally recorded for the “Always a First Time” album “Tom”, named for drummer Tom Skinner,  keeps the pot bubbling with another powerful arrangement.  Given the identity of the tune’s dedicatee it’s totally appropriate that Hooper’s drums are again central to proceedings and he is featured as a soloist alongside Speake and Outram, who both deliver expansive and engaging statements.

Much expanded from its original trio incarnation on “Always a First Time” Speake’s composition “Keep In Touch” calms things down once more with a sophisticated and unhurried ballad arrangement incorporating lush ensemble colours and textures. There are also thoughtful solos from Dennis on flugel and Speake on alto, with Viklicky providing a lyrical cameo in the early stages of the tune.

Also from “Always a First Time” the tune “Twister” was initially inspired by Charlie Parker but is given a contemporary, er, twist with a funk style groove that somehow reminds me of the music of John Scofield. Therefore it’s perhaps appropriate that guitarist Mike Outram should be one of the featured soloists alongside composer Speake.

The only standard on the album is “Where Are You?”, composed by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson. A sombre and atmospheric introduction gives way to something lusher and lighter, but always with a sense of melancholy close at hand. Flute features in the arrangement, but there are deeper sonorities too. There’s a plaintive quality to Speake’s alto solo while Viklicky’s piano solo adds a classically informed lyricism. It’s an astonishingly beautiful and mature arrangement by Rees.

Title track “Hidden Vision” is one of Speake’s most enduring compositions, originally recorded on his 1994 album “In Our Time” and later revisited on “Intention”, his 2018 album with Ethan Iverson. The melody, based on a pentatonic scale, remains thoroughly engaging and is provided with an additional impetus courtesy of Rees’ punchy arrangement. The featured horn soloists are Mark Nightingale on trombone and Speake on alto, with Hooper weighing in with a drum feature towards the close.

2026 has been a hugely productive year for Speake with “Hidden Vision” representing his fourth release since January. It follows in the wake of three digital only recordings featuring Speake’s duos with drummer Andy Edwards and saxophonist Alyson Cawley, plus a trio version, including Hooper, of his long running Charukesi group.

It’s good to see following his well documented legal dispute with his former employers Trinity Laban. I don’t intend to go into all that here, other than to say that The Jazzmann stood by Martin during this period and was delighted that he was finally exonerated of any wrong doing.

The “Hidden Vision” album represents a triumph for both Speake and Charlie Rees, a superb demonstration of Speake’s abilities as both a composer and instrumentalists and Rees’ as an arranger. Speake’s decision to employ the experienced and greatly respected Scott Stroman as a conductor has freed Speake to play a major role as a musician and to act as a featured soloist on every track. He seizes his opportunity brilliantly with a series of incisive and intelligent alto excursions.

Rees is still only twenty four but his arrangements exhibit an intelligence and maturity well beyond his years, rich in terms of colour and texture and also embracing a variety of moods, tempos and jazz styles. He also plays as part of the ensemble, again benefiting from Stroman’s presence, and is one of the featured soloists.

All of the soloists play well, as does the ensemble as a whole. I’m loath to pick out individuals but in addition to Speake himself my ear was particularly caught by the playing of Tom Hooper who drums superbly throughout, whether as a driving force or a skilled colourist, and he makes his solo opportunities count too. Speake has been quick to praise Hooper’s contribution, and rightly so.

The final piece in a very successful jigsaw is the quality of the mix from engineer Chris Traves, who ensures that all of the nuances of the arrangements and playing can be heard with a pinpoint clarity. And finally, a mention for Alyson Cawley’s original artwork too.

“Hidden Vision” and many other recordings by Martin Speake are available from his Bandcamp page here;
https://martinspeake.bandcamp.com/

 

 

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