The Reluctantly Politicised Mr James

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MARTIN FRANCE drums
TIM HARRIES bass
NILS PETTER MOLVAER trumpet
JOHN PARRICELLI guitar
TERJE EVENSEN percussion / sound-audio editor

UK Release Date: 28th June 2010

The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James is the second album by Spin Marvel, a group that wowed critics on their debut self-titled album in 2005. Led by drummer Martin France, it features some of Europe’s most progressive improvisers and finest musicians and, with the addition of celebrated trumpeter Nils Peter Molvaer, marks a giant leap forward for the band and reflects some of the most exciting music currently bursting out of the European scene. Spin Marvel’s musical values are integral and vitally important to their sound yet this album takes on a greater depth. As Martin France explains, “Whilst the core fundamentals remain the same, we wanted to experiment more and have another chance to realise possibilities that maybe we didn’t quite exploit in the first release. The only real influences in this record are the musicians. For them it’s all about the music, nothing else enters into it which is extremely inspirational”. Described by BBC Radio 3 as “so incredibly superb”, Martin France first emerged on the UK scene in the 1980’s as a member of the seminal big band Loose Tubes and featured on ECM recordings at the age of only 19. Since then he has been the rhythmic backbone for an astonishing 70+ albums working with some of the worlds finest musicians including John Taylor, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Arild Anderson, Mark Johnson, Steve Swallow, Bob Mintzer and The Yellowjackets, Bugge Wesseltoft, Mike Gibbs and Maria Schneider.

With specially commissioned artwork by German artist Holger Theunert, who has beautifully captured the colours and textures so evident in the music through five stunning portraits of each band member, The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James is an album bursting with ideas and one that will leave you wanting more.