Tim Garland: Songs to the North Sky

Saxophonist and composer Tim Garland is a musician with a foot on either side of the Atlantic. He has absorbed the American virtues of precision and muscularity from his time with Chick Corea's band, even as he has engaged in a profound way with the traditional music of his native Britain, notably with the group Lammas. Now, with this sweeping epic of a double album, Garand brings these two sides of his playing together. The first disc is a brightly grooving small group set, with pianists Geoff Keezer and Jason Rebello among the collaborators. However, it's on the second disc, with a string section and improvised interludes from US bassist John Pattitucci, that Songs to the North Sky really lifts its eyes above the horizon. timgarland.com