Paul Clarvis & Liam Noble Starry Starry Night

180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl! Pressed at Pallas in Germany!
Starry Starry Night is a collection of cover versions of mainly familiar material by drummer Paul Clarvis and pianist Liam Noble, two characterful lights of the British jazz scene. The tunes range from classic standards like Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," the Gershwins' "Embraceable You" and Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag," through to more recent treasures like Gillian Welch's "Dear Someone," Don Maclean's "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" and Moondog's "Paris." The album is as intimate and seductive as the source material and instrumentation promise - Clarvis and Noble are respectful of the composers' original intentions, rarely straying far from the top-lines or basic changes - but the duo bring fresh fascination to even the most well-worn item.
Paul Clarvis is one of England's most respected and talented drummers, working with almost everyone from Mick Jagger to Nina Simone and Herbie Hancock to Andy Sheppard. As one of the most requested session musicians, he has appeared on a number of soundtracks, including "Star Wars", "Thunderbirds", "The Eternal Gardener", "King Arthur", "The Bourne Ultimatum", "Lord of the Rings", "Batman", "Spy Game", "Corelli's Mandolin", "Shakespeare In Love", "James Bond", "Billy Elliot", "Notting Hill", "Kingdom of Heaven", and many more. He is co-leader of his own band, the Orquestra Mahatma, which specializes in improvisations on folk themes and plays in his own jazz trio "For All the Saints" with Stan Sultzmann and Tony Hymas.
Clarvis' appearance as solo drummer in Birtwistle's "Panic" at the BBC Last Night of the Proms in 1995 made him widely known, he then worked with artists as diverse as Leonard Bernstein and John Dankworth. He received a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, continues to study traditional drumming techniques from a wide variety of cultures and was recently a judge on the BBC programme "Young Musician of the Year". He has recorded with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Richard Thompson, John Adams, Andy Sheppard, Elvis Costello, Mark Anthony Turnage, Michel Legrand, Gordon Beck, Michael Nyman, John Harle, Bryan Ferry and is a professor at The Royal Academy of Music and, together with Sonia Slany, owns the label Village Life.
On "Starry Starry Night" Paul Clarvis teamed up with pianist Liam Noble, who is known for his very own individual compositions and improvisations. Noble also worked with Stan Sultzmann and many other artists such as Ingrid Laubrock, Anita Wardell, Harry Beckett, Christine Tobin, Chris Bisco and the cult minimal composer Moondog, where he and Paul Clarvis were introduced to each other.
Since then, the two have played together in many bands and when the offer came to record at Abbey Road Studios Studio One, they decided that this was the right place for their duo recording. The resulting album "Starry Starry Night" is a beautiful compilation of standards between Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", Ellington's "Mood Indigo" to George and Ira Gershwin's "Embraceable You", Don Maclean's Vincent ("Starry Starry Night") and Paul Simon's "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" to Moondog's "Paris". For Paul Clarvis, this album is a very personal one, a thank you to his parents. At the time of the recording, his father was terminally ill and could barely listen to the finished album before he died.
With his gentle broom work on the drums, the glittering, melodic arrangements by Paul Clarvis are the perfect complement to the melodies of Noble. The synchronicity of the two makes this album a seamless work, it meanders gently between the cheerful and lovely ("Embraceable You") and the playful ("Maple Leaf Rag") to the rocking ("Whispering"). The album ends with Moondog's "Paris", a short burst of joy lasting just over two minutes, which makes the melody catchy.

Features:

• 180g Vinyl
• Pressed at Pallas in Germany
• Limited Edition
• Audiophile Re-Mastering

Selections:

Side A
1. Moon Indigo
2. Shadow Of Your Smile
3. Dear Someone
4. Maple Leaf Rag
5. Vincent
6. Poor Butterfly
Side B
1. Whispering
2. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright
3. Embraceable You
4. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
5. Paris