A truly magical evening on Monday 16th June at the House of St Barnabas, where Matthew Halsall and the Gondwana Orchestra introduced their new album, ‘When the world was one’. The album, the fifth offering from Matthew Halsall, is truly exceptional; deep spiritual jazz with Eastern influences, reflecting Halsall’s recent travels to Japan and the music of one of his heroes, Alice Coltrane.

The performance was nearly mystical, contributed largely to the music content and the interesting choice of instruments; featuring a bunch of seriously talented young musicians, they delivered hypnotic grooves and meditative slow-build solos with a brilliant double-bass, harp, flute, drums, piano, tenor sax, the Japanese koto and of course, Halsall’s trumpet. And there couldn’t be a more fitting venue for showcasing Halsall’s spiritual melodies than the chapel at the House of St Barnabas: this intimate space, with remarkable acoustics and a strong feeling of reverence only added to the magic of the evening – a truly remarkable, unforgettable night. 

MADONJAZZ is dedicated to exploring the world of deep jazz and love of vinyl, and there isn’t a better contemporary example of this than Halsall’s latest album. We believe that Matthew Halsall, together with Nat Birchall who contributed to the album recording, are leading the way in British modern spiritual jazz.

“When the World was One” by Matthew Halsall and the Gondwana Orchestra, is out now on vinyl, CD and mp3 on https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-world-was-one