"The first Gil Evans music I ever heard was his Gil Evans + Ten album - that was in the late 1950s - and it's still reverberating. This selection includes adaptions of some favorite Gil arrangements, and a few of my own explorations." - Mike Gibbs, 2013 Mike Gibbs is a revered composer, conductor, producer and arranger working in jazz and improvised music. He has worked with Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, John Schofield and Peter Gabriel in a career that spans four decades. At the time of this recording, the 76 year old Gibbs, according to The Guardian, "still sparks subtly harmonized thrills from a jazz orchestra in ways that few can," and this debut for Whirlwind has captured his 12-piece ensemble performing arrangements of Gil Evans material, adapted to mark the celebration of Evan's 100th anniversary. There's also a helping of Gibb's originals and works by some of his favorite composers including Carla Bley and Thelonious Monk. The 12-piece ensemble recorded all the material on the album in just one day and features an eclectic mix of renown improvisers living in the UK, with each track featuring at least one soloist.
A little more from Mike: "The programme for this album is twofold half devoted to some adaptions of arrangements of Gil Evans which we originally designed for some concerts we did with Hans Kollers 12 piece ensemble to commemorate Gils' 100th anniversary. The second half - comprises some new (-ish) arrangements and compositions of mine. These were also scheduled for the same performances in 2012/13. The pleasure we had gigging with this ensemble of stellar players prompted the idea of an album for Whirlwind Recordings."