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| Simon Sammut - Crossing - A Visual and Music Experience A journey through music and visual art – this is what Crossing, the new album by Simon Sammut offers the listener. Actually, rather than just an album, Crossing is more of a project, one that seeks to blend space, form, beauty and color into one multi-dimensional artistic creation that explores the different types of 'crossings' that exist around us – physical, psychological and beyond. Simon started his initial studies at a young age and reached advanced levels of music education. After studying piano for a number of years, he started playing electric bass at the age of thirteen. He became captivated by the sound of legendary bass players as James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Francis Rocco Prestia of Tower of Power, Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire and Larry Graham. After some lessons with his father Joseph, who himself was an established bass player during his young days, Simon continued to study bass playing and soon established himself as a popular bass player. At the age of 15, Simon joined his first rock band "Hangover". He quickly moved from playing rock to blues, soul, funk and jazz. Later on he began to play the upright bass. As a performer, he has played with leading musicians and covering a wide span of musical activities. As he is a fluent reader and a versatile musician with an eclectic taste, he is quite busy and has for quite some time now played with various, musicians, bands and orchestras. Besides his work as a performer, Simon is equally at home in the roles of composer, arranger, producer and music teacher. In 2011, Simon produced and released his new solo album entitled "BaSSic Attitude". In this album Simon collaborated with multi-instrumentalist Alexander Kuzmin. The album had received very positive feedback. It has been described as "finely polished jewer of bass goodness". The album's eight instrumental tracks traverse Jazz, Soul, Funk and Pop, including the slow grooving ballad, "Recollection", the latin flavoured "Dos Hijas", the funky "Another Song" and the feel good "Second Avenue". Track Listing: The Tin Soldier's Last Dance; Daruma Doll; Be the Change; Promethean Man; Crossing; Shades of Ember; Bell Ringer; Fifty Something; Frozen Glass; Frontier; When Stone Comes to Life; Princes of Serendip. Personnel: Tony Sammut: piano; Mark Attard: piano; Melchior Busuttil: drums, percussion, programming; Marc Galea: classical, electric guitars; Jonathan Ellul: electric guitars; Kris Spiteri: melodica; Kevin Abela: trumpet; Ivan Borg: tenor saxophone; Godfrey Mifsud: baritone saxophone; Jesmond Azzopardi: bass, trombone; Marlene Sammut: voice; Simon Sammut: upright bass, electric basses. 1. The Tin Soldier's Last Dance (feat. Tony Sammut, Melchior Busuttil & Angela Grima) 2. Daruma Doll 3. Be the Change (feat. Melchior Busuttil & Jonathan Ellul) 4. Promethean Man (feat. Melchior Busuttil) 5. Crossing (feat. Melchior Busuttil, Tony Sammut, Lena Sammut & Marc Galea) 6. Shades of Ember (feat. Mark Attard, Marc Galea, Melchior Busuttil & Kris Spiteri) 7. Bell Ringer (feat. Melchior Busuttil) 8. Fifty Something (feat. Kevin Abela, Ivan Borg, Godfrey Mifsud, Jesmond Azzopardi, Jonathan Ellul, Tony Sammut & Melchior Busuttil) 9. Frozen Glass 10. Frontier (feat. Melchior Busuttil & Tony Sammut) 11. When Stone Comes to Life (feat. Melchior Busuttil) 12. Princes of Serendip (feat. Jonathan Ellul & Melchior Busuttil) Following his first album Bassic Attitude which launched in 2011, Simon Sammut is back with another album which comes from an altogether different place than Bassic Attitude, as reflected in its fluid texture and inspiration. The musical score and complimentary paintings are based on a common theme of Crossing. Essentially it is about crossing barriers or boundaries whether they are physical or geographical, intellectual or psychological with reference to particular moments in history, a story or cognitive state. The project touches upon a number of topical subjects, such as migration, mental health, technology, environment and diversity. write your comments about the article :: © 2017 Jazz News :: home page |