'When Time Stops' is a mixture of swing, latin flavoured and groove
based tracks. Contemporary, acoustic, melodic jazz

DDD Total Time = 54:53 / Recorded at R.G. Jones Studios, February 2000

Certain moments have an important role in our lives.

When time seems to stop we see what we know with fresh eyes and eternity is briefly glimpsed.

A Word of Explanation

The band was formed in 1991, shortly after I finished a European tour with 'Itchy Fingers' sax quartet.

I had known Phil Antonia for some time and we joined together with Dave Frankel and David May to create a quartet. At this time the quartet was jointly led by myself and Phil (The Allaway /Antonia Quartet). In 1995 we released an album called 'Samizdat', which was well received by public and press alike.

"A fresh generation of jazz musicians is springing up for the 1990s. The Allaway / Antonia Quartet epitomise the strength of this new generation. "

Phil and myself individually wrote all the music for 'Samizdat' as we have for this new album.

Even though I have now taken over the running of the group, hence 'The Mark Allaway Quartet', we are very much a band that relies on the sum of its parts. It is so rewarding to play with a group that has remained constant since its start nearly a decade ago.

Hopefully the musical understanding between us has deepened in the same way our friendship has.

Happy listening!

 

'Tribal Zone' is a latin groove piece which slides itself through several key changes and features a brilliant solo on brushes by David.

The introduction to 'When Time Stops' is a reflective start to what becomes an up tempo latin 'romp',again featuring David on drums.

The following 'She's Near, She's Far' with a jazz three-four feel mixes standard harmony and triad over bass note harmony.

'Winter', Phil's first piece on this album, has a beautifully bleak beginning (a duet between bass and piano). Gradually the piece gathers pace, until the solo section is a full four times the speed of the head.

Phil's next piece 'The Night' is a ballad in which I get a chance to play my tenor again.

'Not Really' has a more straight ahead swing feel leading us to Phil's 'Wildlife on Seven', where a cleverly constructed bass line (in 7/4) leaves room for dueting between alto and piano.

'Fede' (a tribute to my wife) is a ballad featuring myself, Dave and Phil and 'Song for Jackie' (Phil's tribute to his wife) rounds out the album with its mesmerizing 5/4 feel.

'Samizdat', our last album, was particularly praised for its writing.

"The core of this very attractive album is a clutch of brilliantly melodic original tunes' . (The Birmingham Post)

Again we have tried to give emphasis to writing good material, knowing that good compositions generally lead to meaningful improvisation.