A View with a Room Trish Clowes featuring Chris Montague, Ross Stanley and James Maddren

• 1A View with a Room04:57
• 2The Ness05:52
• 3Amber05:03
• 4Morning Song05:58
• 5No Idea05:01
• 6Ayana07:16
• 7Time06:18
• 8Almost08:55
• Total Runtime49:20

Info for A View with a Room

"A View with a Room" is the fourth release by saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes and her acclaimed band My Iris, an intense and thrilling quartet that represents the front rank of the contemporary UK jazz scene. Lauded for her imaginative approach to improvisation and composition, Clowes provides her bandmates Ross Stanley (piano/Hammond organ), Chris Montague (guitar) and James Maddren (drums) with a unique platform for individual expression, delivering driving grooves and lingering melodic lines, seamlessly morphing between earthy restlessness and futuristic dreamscapes.

Most of the repertoire came together during the pandemic for various livestream events, Clowes writing a new tune for each precious playing opportunity. Many of the tracks make direct reference to issues created and exacerbated by the global pandemic, commenting on personal loss and creativity as solace, the climate crisis, and the ever-growing migrant crisis. The title track suggests a surreal, and yet strangely relatable concept, forced upon much of the world during these deeply isolating times. "The Ness" is inspired by sounds and images from a Scottish coastline by filmmaker / collaborator Rose Hendry. “Amber" is for Amber Bauer, CEO of Donate4Refugees (a charity Clowes is an ambassador for), reflecting her energy and dynamism. “Ayana" is dedicated to Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, an inspiring writer, marine biologist and policy expert, who speaks clearly and positively on the issues of climate change. Creative music for and of our times.

Liner notes: A few important things to know about some of the music… 'The Ness' was written in response to images and sounds captured by film-maker Rose Hendry along the East Neuk of Fife coastline in Scotland. 'Amber' is for Amber Bauer, CEO of Donate4Refugees (a charity I am an ambassador for). 'Ayana' is dedicated to Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, an inspiring writer, marine biologist and policy expert, who speaks clearly and positively on the issues of climate change.

Huge thanks to Dave Douglas and Greenleaf Music for supporting this music so sincerely; to my amazing bandmates Ross, Chris and James; to legends Darren and Luke at Livingston; to Rose for being Rose; and to my husband Chris Kelly for presenting our sounds so beautifully.

Also massive thanks to everyone who has supported my music over the past two years, through extraordinarily challenging times – you have contributed to the making of this album, and the optimism I hope it carries! Some people really went above and beyond, and it will never be forgotten. (Trish Clowes)

Trish Clowes, tenor & soprano saxophones
Chris Montague, guitar
Ross Stanley, piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ
James Maddren, drums

Trish Clowes
Saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes has been described as “an improviser to be reckoned with” (Downbeat Magazine) and “one of the most agile and original jugglers of improv and adventurous composition to have appeared in the UK in recent times” (The Guardian). Lauded for her imaginative approach to improvisation and composition, Clowes is currently an Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall, and has released six critically acclaimed albums. Clowes’s band MY IRIS – with Chris Montague, Ross Stanley and James Maddren – represents the front rank of the contemporary UK jazz scene and has been hailed as “the jazz of the future.” (Augsburger Allgemeine)

Notable career performances include the Barbican, Toronto Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Wigmore Hall, Celtic Connections (with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Women in (e)motion Festival (Germany), National Opera House (Ireland), Galway Jazz Festival, and broadcasts for BBC 2 Proms Extra, BBC Radio 3 and Radio Bremen. Clowes is a soloist on various recordings for Signum Classics and NMC Recordings, with Orchestra of the Swan, BBC Concert Orchestra (Joe Cutler’s saxophone concerto), and Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian with the London Symphony Orchestra. Recent commissions include writing for the London Sinfonietta (a Sinfonietta Short for solo bass, and their Sound Out projects), BBC Radio 3 (BBC Postcards from Composers, and BBC Concert Orchestra), Onyx Brass, and Architecture of Autonomy (producing music for a dance-film). Clowes’s music video ‘Abbott & Costello’, directed by Rose Hendry, was shortlisted for Voice of a Woman Awards 2019, and screened at Cannes Lions Festival and Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

Born in the early 80s, Clowes was raised in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and moved to London in 2003 to study at the Royal Academy of Music – she was later honoured as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (2013). From 2012-14 Clowes was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and during that time she was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to write for the BBC Concert Orchestra, a piece that won her a British Composer Award in 2015. Clowes holds a PhD in Musical Composition, awarded by Birmingham City University (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) in 2020. Her research project was centred around the activities of her new music festival Emulsion , exploring collective practice and audience interaction through her compositions, and was funded by a STEAM Scholarship (2016). Clowes is an ambassador for the charity Donate4Refugees , and teaches regularly for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Academy of Music, and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Booklet for A View with a Room