all this this here

A great master of double bass, composition and orchestral art, Barry Guy returns with his flagship Blue Shroud Band! It has been seven years since the band released their first album inspired by Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica.

Now the time has come for Guy’s next large-scale composition, this time inspired by the work of the great writer Samuel Beckett.

All This Here was recorded this spring at the Associao Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos in Porto, Portugal. As always, the sonic side of the recording was overseen by the incomparable Ferran Conangla.

The band includes some of the finest musicians on the improvised music scene today, who, by the way, came to the Porto session with an almost unchanged line-up. They include legendary musicians with a long-established reputation, as well as younger artists who will make their mark on the world of music in the future.

Together and under the guidance of the great erudite and virtuoso, they have created a spectacular work in which the entire musical world of Barry Guy is reflected. I had the honor of writing the liner notes for the first Blue Shroud Band album now the writing side has been taken care of by Barry Guy himself and, above all, by Jonathan C. Creasy in an excellent essay describing the history and meanderings of the composer’s Beckett inspirations.

I remember my excitement when I was able to help organize the sessions for the first Blue Shroud album released seven years ago on Intakt Records. I remember the first Blue Shroud all this this here performance in Krakow. At the time, I didn’t even dare think that the opportunity to release Barry Guy’s orchestra on CD would happen to me. Today, something I was afraid to dream about has become real. Many thanks to Barry Guy, Maya Homburger and all the members of the Blue Shroud Band!

Maciej Karłowski