Days of Gypsy Nights By Doug Wyatt

 

Days of Gypsy Nights

By

Doug Wyatt

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

This new release by Doug Wyatt has to be one of the most enjoyable for me personally that I have had the pleasure to listen to this year so far, and that says a lot, as I get gifted a fair amount of Jazz based albums for review, there was something so fluent and smooth about this creative pastiche of compositions within the realm of this new album entitled Days of Gypsy Nights.

This release contains 9 bliss filled reveries, the first of which is entitled Iroquois, a charming full flowing narrative that has a delightful symphonic sense to its construction. I remember the name from my Native American studies, and the piano of Wyatt here created a spectacular backdrop of sound that perhaps could take us vicariously to that very location, a tip of the hat must go here to the saxophone of Michael Rosen, and the crafted percussion from Marcello Pellitteri on drums.

The following creation is called As I Am, As I Dream to Be, its combination of colours and textures brought a pleasant sanctuary of peace to fill my musical soul. One of the most important parts of a Jazz band is the engine room, or the rhythm section, and among the rising notes of the sax and layered piano, we were treated to a sublime performance by Giuseppe Bassi on double bass.

Days of Gypsy Nights is such a beautifully created and produced album it is a simple pleasure to behold its great graces, like the heart felt opus of Afraid to Love, or perhaps the symphonic partnership of piano and strings on Katy's Spring.

Then the masterpiece takes centre stage as we listen intently to the title track itself Days of Gypsy Nights, we can enjoy the sumptuous performance on piano by Wyatt, we can travel with the tonal delights of the New Zealand String Quartet as they manifest a bed of sound to allow the piece itself to pick up speed and move ever onward, whilst the supreme talents of both Michael Rosen & Michael Waldrop on sax and drums take us to Jazz heaven on what must be one of the most complex yet incredibly listenable offerings from the album.

Composer Wyatt must be elated with his musical creations, all of which are bursting with life and create a fine tapestry of tone and timbre, like the gentle piano reverie of The Pseudo-Iterative, or perhaps the outstanding Mythaka, a song which utilises the sublime talents of Francesco Ponticelli on double bass, and with the simply picturesque string driven short form narrative of Ulysses, we are literally driven right home to our door, and the concluding creation from the album.

Return to the Sea Beyond as a final narrative is lush, smooth and beautifully performed, the opening foray by Wyatt is some of the most artistic and tender piano I have heard for simple ages in this genre, with the inclusion of strings the listener can feel totally fulfilled at the coda.

For me, I would recommend Days of Gypsy Nights by Doug Wyatt in a heartbeat, this isn’t just a Jazz album, this is a sublime example of perfectly created, presented and produced instrumental magic, with a team of incredibly talented cohorts who each in their own add so much to this breath taking album, as such I predict with great confidence that Days of Gypsy Nights by Doug Wyatt is going to be a huge chart hit, and maybe even more!