Blue Hour

Description

Blue Hour marks Nick Schofield's first foray into ambient jazz. This album is an ambient tribute to Miles Davis's In a Silent Way and opens the door to a new sonic palette, integrating drums, the instrument of his childhood, into his contemporary electro-ambient practice. Blue Hour highlights the intuitive and completely improvised trumpet playing of Scott Bevins (No Cosmos, Busty and the Bass). Schofield grew up playing drums but turned to experimental electronic music during his electroacoustic studies at Concordia University. Recognized for his unique ambient aesthetic, Schofield has been called a "dazzling electronic artist" by Aquarium Drunkard and a "master of the synthesizer" by Constellation Records. Blue Hour represents the first fusion of his percussion practice with his electro-ambient explorations, all in service of a reinterpretation of Miles Davis's landmark album, In a Silent Way (1969). Schofield improvised all the main drum and synthesizer parts in a single day, during a recording session in an Ottawa church. These foundational layers consist of soft Moog pulses and Roland Juno-6 pads, some of which would fit perfectly in the second half of Another Green World or Music Has the Right to Children. As the album was intended to reflect In a Silent Way, the trumpet was essential. Schofield invited Bevins to record the missing piece during a one-day session, where Bevins improvised all his trumpet parts without ever having heard the tracks beforehand. Scott Bevins's contribution gives the music a predominant instrumental voice, and his intuitive approach demonstrates a perfect understanding of how to integrate and elevate the compositions. Blue Hour is in itself a profound reference, an ambient adaptation, a dream come true, and a stunning synthesis of sounds, styles, and personal history.