Sierra Tracks

Description

Inspired by the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama northwest of Madrid, where he has lived since August 2022, Milo Fitzpatrick presents Sierra Tracks, the new album from his cinematic chamber jazz project, Vega Trails. After recording a beautiful debut album in duo in 2022, "Tremors in the Static", alongside saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands), Milo now considerably expands this blueprint with its successor, "Sierra Tracks", adding piano, vibraphone, and strings to the mix. The beautiful Spanish countryside has also been a source of inspiration. However, while Sierra Tracks features an expanded line-up including pianist Taz Modi (a colleague alongside Milo in the Portico Quartet live band), vibraphone specialist Harriet Riley, and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Smart who retains his key place in Vega Trails, playing various wind instruments - soprano and tenor sax, bass clarinet, duduk, and the Ney flute from Turkey and Armenia. Milo also turned again to the cello, an instrument he had not played since school, adding an extra dimension to his own sound. A conversation with Hania Rania, a label colleague, about recording orchestral arrangements helped give it a prominent place on Sierra Tracks.