New music for baritone, soprano, and tenor ukuleles by Loretta K. Notareschi, Albrecht Zummach, Dimitri van Halderen, Donald Bousted, Alan Bullard, Geoffrey Cox and Stephen Altoft.

Buy digital / listen on streaming via Bandcamp.

Available from live on most digital platforms such as iTunes, Amazon Music and Spotify

Buy digital / listen on streaming via Bandcamp.

The concept of this album evolved gradually from one or two pieces but became cristalized when I received Loretta K. Norateschi’s piece ‘Cross/Over’. I had already been working hard at Albrecht Zummach’s epic piece for solo ukulele which in its nature crossed, mixed and juxtposed different music genres and as the newer pieces emerged they all seemed to offer different aspects of crossing or reaching out or taking big steps into new territory. This ranged from the technical – in Geoffrey Cox’s piece, for example, the fusion of a simple melodic idea with a rhythmic structure which moves towards new complexity; to the artistic – the absurd, exaggerated, fantasy world of Stephen Altoft’s ‘The Ballad of Baron Anton’; to the cultural – a spanish guitar piece on a ukulele, but somehow absolutely making it something new and entirely refreshing (’Evocations’). The other thing which characterises this programme is that the music is all very difficult with demands ranging from the simply ‘fast’, to tricky metric and rhythmic shifts, to demands of ensemble, character and balance. It‘s been a blast and I hope you enjoy listening!

Released October, 2021.