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Great 4 star album review from Jazzwise

For the past decade the London- based tenor saxophonist John Martin has trodden his own personal path, wary of fashionably hip cutting edges. His associations with ensembles of not only jazz musicians but those interested in playing Ghanaian, folk and pop music gives an extra dimension to the less US-orientated, more Euro-jazz soundworld he favours. It all made for a self-assured debut Dawning in 2011 on the F-IRE Presents label. The follow-up plays against a conceptual backdrop: the title The Hidden Notes refers to the harmonics and multiphonics Martin uses as ‘a celebration of the beautiful colours hidden just below the surface’. Instead of the noisy squawks and atonal meditations of free jazz, Martin’s interest in the horn’s extended techniques lies in a more quietly lyrical and painterly expression of his themes, a kind of softly layered, breathy alternative. Martin’s predecessors are an older generation of UK saxophonists – Julian Argüelles, Iain Ballamy and Andy Sheppard are probably the most well-known – that felt close to the ECM aesthetic and took on board the message of Jan Garbarek as well as Bird. But there are contemporary signposts here too, in Martin’s use of minimalistic loops and interest in fusion and folk song that…


2016 UK Tour and Album Launch.

John Martin will be embark on a UK tour with his quintet in June – August 2016. This will coincide with the launch of his forth coming album “The Hidden Notes, Spirit Of Adventure” which will be released on the F-ire label on the 10th of June.  The album will be available as a double CD digipack and digital download from this  website and all good record outlets.  A wonderful painting of a saxophone ship has been commissioned to represent the journey of this project, which may also be available as prints in the near future.  There will also be a short documentary film about The Hidden Notes by Kevin Brown from Motherbrownfilms and a there is a new Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/thehiddennotes/  Hope to see you at one of our upcoming gigs!. The Hidden Notes gratefully acknowledges the support of the Arts Council of England.