Touch and Flee Neil Cowley Trio

• 1Kneel Down05:55
• 2Winterlude01:58
• 3Sparkling04:55
• 4Gang of One03:12
• 5Couch Slouch04:03
• 6Bryce03:53
• 7Mission02:34
• 8Queen06:20
• 9The Art03:01
• Total Runtime35:51

Info for Touch and Flee

Touch and Flee is the new recording from Neil Cowley Trio, and marks a defining moment in the evolution of the band. It is their bravest, most daring album to date, spotlighting the ever- increasing brilliance of Cowley as a composer. With long time band mates, Evan Jenkins on drums and Rex Horan on bass, they jump headlong into new territory to present what they describe as "our concert hall record" for an altogether deeper listening journey.

Gone are the familiar hook laden tunes, repeating riffs and pounding crescendos, replaced, in the main, by shifting, expansive melodies, longer elegant passages, and a broader brush stroke on Cowley's blank canvas.

What is familiar though is Cowley's power to move through music. Exquisitely graceful movements meet with dark haunting passages. And although this is a new direction for Neil Cowley Trio, their personality, and unmistakable sound, still shines through. We hear, for example in the epic, sweeping, Kneel Down a three movement piece containing pulse, power, climax, spaciousness, and then, gentle surprise. The wonky jazz of Winterlude keeps the head nodding while Cowley's proclivity for atmospheric film scores remains.

Undoubtedly, Cowley's confidence and maturity as a composer comes from his experiences of past years. Where Cowley's previous album saw him composing and arranging for trio and a twenty four piece string ensemble, his position last year as Musician in Residence for UK's City of Culture saw him take a crash course in choral harmony as he composed and arranged for a choir.

Touch and Flee was recorded at the legendary RAK studios with Grammy nominated Dom Monks in the producer's chair. RAK has seen some of the biggest names in music record there - David Bowie, Al Green, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Arctic Monkeys, and of course Adele, with whom Cowley recorded the global hit, Rolling In The Deep.

Touch and Flee is the result of three gifted musicians who think as one, growing together, driving forward. A collection of tunes best savoured in a darkened room, at full volume. They demand attention, but as always, deliver to the listener the most blissful of rides.

"a recording of hidden depths and on-the-pulse sonic values that signals a bright new chapter in the Neil Cowley Trio story." (Jazzwise)

“...more sober, substantial and meditative...” (Mojo)

Neil Cowley, piano
Rex Horan, double bass
Evan Jenkins, drums

Recorded by Dom Monks and Helen Broadhurst at RAK Studios, London
Mixed by Dom Monks at Three Crows Studio, Somerset
Mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis Mastering, London
Produced by Dom Monks

Neil Cowley Trio
As a young boy, London-born Neil Cowley studied classical music at the prestigious Royal Academy, and by the age of 10 had performed a Shostakovich piano concerto to a full house at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

By his mid-teens, Cowley had joined a friend in a Blues Brothers tribute band, “as a way” he says “of getting into pubs”, yet the London pub circuit served him well – he learned to play classic, old school Rnb in a number of bands whose members had come from, or went on to great things. By the age of 17 he turned his back on formal training altogether, and entered the world of pop. He went on to record and tour with some of the best soul and funk bands of the day, including The Pasadenas, 4 years with the Brand New Heavies, and Zero 7, until in 2002 he formed his own band, Fragile State.

As one half of the Fragile State production duo, Cowley set the world of jazzy chill-out music alight and produced two critically acclaimed albums, from which came Four-Four-Four, a track that was later licensed by Vodafone for a nationwide commercial. When the record company dissolved, Cowley continued to make music; his incredible versatility as a composer saw him producing themes to a number of television programmes and documentaries, drawing on desert blues, chill, jazz and orchestral soundtrack.

Cowley soon began to find the experience of extracting music from a computer chip unbearable, so set forth with his dear friend the piano and a renewed enthusiasm to present creativity without technological hindrance. Cowley began composing and eventually realised a long-standing vision, and formed the Neil Cowley Trio with Richard Sadler on double bass and Evan Jenkins on drums.

In June 2006 Cowley formed his own label, Hide Inside Records, and released the trio’s debut album Displaced, an outstanding album of original recordings that established him as a dazzling pianist and stunning composer. Through his examination of the possibilities of the acoustic piano trio, Cowley created a unique trademark sound that delivered, powerful music of massive dynamic range and contrasts – where ferociously forceful, hook laden melodies sit side by side with reflective, tender pieces capable of heart shattering tenderness. The album was released to huge critical acclaim, and won the 2007 BBC Jazz Award for Best Album.

In February 2007, the Neil Cowley Trio undertook their first full UK tour, revealing Cowley’s instinctive flair and ingenuity as an entertainer. At the heart of their captivating live performances is Cowley’s marvellously English wit, mischievous humour and remarkable rapport with his audience.

In the summer of 2007, the trio recorded their follow-up album, Loud… Louder…Stop for the indie jazz label, Cake. Fizzing with the energy of rock and the surging dynamics of dance music, Cowley solidified his sound, yet stretched the envelope further. Released in March 2008, it placed him and his trio at the forefront of the British ‘Post-Jazz’ movement, and earned them far reaching critical acclaim from across the musical spectrum. Mojo hailed the recording as a “Modern Classic”, and listed it in their ’50 Best Albums’ of that year. The trio became noted for blurring the boundaries between jazz and other genres, and, dubbed ‘Jazz for Radiohead fans’, they found themselves with a diverse touring schedule that would take them from Glastonbury and the iTunes Festival to the infamous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. A TV appearance on Later with Jools, a Mojo cover- mounted CD (a celebratory reworking of the Beatle’s Revolution), and a Guinness commercial inched them further toward crossover status.

In the meantime, dedication to his trio would see Cowley decline various invitations to appear as side man on other projects. However, his contribution to the platinum-selling 19, the debut recording from Adele, and in particular his poignantly expressive intro to the stand-out Hometown Glory is now legendary. More recently, Cowley has collaborated with the Stereophonics on their current album, Keep Calm and Carry On.

Radio Silence is Cowley’s third album and undoubtedly his most cohesive recording to date. It is released in April 2010 on one of the UK’s most exciting Indie labels, Naim Jazz, and though the recording does not stray too far from the Cowley template, it represents the sound of a band fully comfortable in their unique sonic skin. It is the record that Cowley has been working towards, seizing the magical empathy of his unit, who, with thousands of hours under their belt have learnt to breathe and listen as one.

This album contains no booklet.