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Nottingham born, BBC Award-winning multi-reedist, composer and bandleader Julian Siegel is a genuinely world-class musician who has worked with the likes of Hermeto Pascoal, Andrew Hill, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, and Mike Gibbs. He is a founder-member of the influential UK Jazz-Rock quartet Partisans with guitarist/composer Phil Robson and since 2007 he has toured and recorded with the Julian Siegel Trio featuring U.S. improvising stars Joey Baron and Greg Cohen, while this his second release on Basho features his superlative quartet. His distinctive, imaginative but always warm sound and his broad tonal range, advanced harmonic ideas and fine compositions have drawn praise from such luminaries as Joe Lovano who described Siegel's trio with Baron and Cohen as "full of music and magic". Drummer Billy Hart praised his "great imagination'. In addition, Siegel's Quartet are one the of top UK jazz acts (alongside Basho label mates Kit Downes Trio amongst others) who will tour Germany and Austria 14th-25st March as part of the Brit-Jazz travelling-festival put together by Burkhard Hopper, former manager of the late Esbjorn Svensson. However, it is not just the international stars that are drawn to Siegel's playing. He is a revered figure for the younger generation too, appearing on Empirical's latest MOBO Jazz award winning album 'Out 'n' In' and was asked to produce trumpeter Richard Turner's 'Round Trip' band for their F-IRE Records debut.

Track Listing

Press Quotes

Oh wow! Even after a few hours’ listening to a random selection of the finest CDs of jazz music from the last 50 years or so, this disc still leaps out. It’s going to be hard to knock Urban Theme Park off the top of my “best” pile for 2011.

     —Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast

this is a superb contemporary take on post-bop jazz.

     —Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times

With such a knack for drawing on jazz traditions while remaining fresh and forward-looking, the Julian Siegel Quartet are the perfect illustration of why British jazz is turning heads the world over.

     —Edward Randell, OMH

Urban Theme Park (Basho Records) is a new album from saxophone star Julian Siegel and his quartet, with Liam Noble (piano/keyboards), Oli Hayhurst (double bass) and American drummer Gene Calderazzo. Siegel is an award-winning multi-reed player and composer, who has worked with Hermeto Pascoal, Django Bates and Kenny Wheeler among others. Album opener Six Four is a joyful melody with infectious swing, Siegel’s tenor saxophone taking flight with Noble’s piano, simultaneously following dancing melodic lines which compliment each other in an empathetic journey. One For J T name-checks pianist John Taylor, adding playful influences of Brazilian master, Hermeto Pascoal, in its cheerfully syncopated melody. Calderazzo joins in with some powerhouse creativity, confirming his position as one of the top drummers around.The delicate ballad Heart Song has Siegel on clarinet, not often heard in contemporary jazz, is in cola voce mode with piano. Calderazzo whispering in with brushes brings the realisation of how beautifully this album is recorded, different effects from cymbals, snare drum and hi-hat. Urban Theme Park emerges as an important album for 2011.

     —Ron Burnett, York Press

Urban Theme Park has style. Siegel and his fellow musicians may not be short of other projects, but this one deserves some serious commitment, because there is plenty here to suggest that the quartet could become a real driving force in contemporary music.

     —Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz

SAXOPHONIST and clarinetist Julian Siegel is one of the most consistently innovative and rewarding musicians on the UK jazz scene. This excellent (mainly) acoustic quartet features the dazzling piano work of Liam Noble and a fine bass and drum pairing in Oli Hayhurst and Gene Calderazzo. All are alive to the often tricky twists and turns of Siegel's music, which touches base on a wide range of stylistic influences

     —Kenny Mathieson, The Scotsman

there's not a moment that doesn't fizz with ingenuity and imagination.

     —Mojo

the most winning thing about this album is its irrepressible high spirits

     —Daily Telegraph

Julian Siegel simply exudes class and thoughtful elegance.

     —Chris Parker, London Jazz

Mastering much of the saxophone and clarinet families, Siegel carries an assurance that his works will always feature a captivating tonal spread. The latest line-up for this combo features pianist Liam Noble, bassman Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo. There are many years of cross-pollination at play here, with relationships that have forged a unique musical bond.

     —Martin Longley, BBC Website

The UK multi-instrumentalist’s evocative set of nine originals opens with the bounce of an urgent bass riff and closes with a slow-burning fusion of beats and electronica.

     —Mike Hobart, Financial Times

Siegel, bassist Oli Hayhurst, drummer Gene Calderazzo and the unquenchable Noble set the bar pretty high for the art of making idiomatic, eclectic contemporary jazz.

     —John Fordham, The Guardian

It is a rare and beautiful conflation that gives Urban Theme Park, like all Siegel's recent work, magnetism and depth. Highly recommended.

     —Chris May, All About Jazz

UK-jazz supergroup..is quintessential postbop jazz, its Joe Zawinul, Stravinsky and west-African references give it plenty of appeal among the non-cognoscenti, as well.

     —John Fordham , The Guardian