GWILYM SIMCOCK (piano) / YURI GOLOUBEV (double bass) DUO “Reverie at Schloss Elmau” ACT 9624-2 (2014) Celebrating the European launch of their new DUO album long time collaborators pianist Gwilym Simcock and Yuri Goloubev navigate an intriguing route through jazz, chamber music and contemporary classical. Gwilym Simcock and Yuri Goloubev met at the famous studio in Udine at the end of 2005 and hit it off immediately. Klaus Gesing, the noted German reeds player, was the catalyst to their instant rapport when he invited them to record on his ‘Heartluggage’ album (ATS Records, 2006). Since then Gwilym and Yuri have worked on numerous projects and recorded four more albums together – with the SGS Group (Music Center 2008) (with the drummer Asaf Sirkis), with The Yuri Goloubev quintet ‘Metafore Semplici’ (Universal 2009) (with Giovanni Falzone, Klaus Gesing and Asaf Sirkis) with The Gwilym Simcock Trio “Blues Vignette”(Basho 2009) (with James Maddren) and now for ACT a duo album “ Reverie at Schloss Elmau”. Gwilym and Yuri have long been fascinated by the expressive possibilities of their duo which started in 2008, at the Musica Sulle Bocche festival in Sardinia and was an instant success. Their concerts allow them to navigate a route through jazz, chamber music and contemporary classical – their strong classical backgrounds allow them to take experimental risks and incorporate into both jazz standards and their own original pieces free improvisations and excursions into the culture of European music, often interpreting well-known pieces in unusual and unexpected ways that always intrigue the audience and excite their curiosity. Music Samples: Lost Romance (Goloubev) Antics (Simcock) Flow (Simcock) DOWNLOAD A HI RES VERSION OF THIS PHOTO HERE REVIEWS "The pairing of UK pianist Gwilym Simcock and Russian double-bassist Yuri Goloubev was something of a masterstroke. Both musicians are fluent improvisers with strong personalities who blend jazz and classical influences with panache" Financial Times “It’s a masterclass in duet playing and a pensively pleasurable exploration of the points at which the jazz and classical worlds meet.” Metro “Duo Art shimmers and dances with European art-music references, which surface in the elegant themes, the liquid movement of Simcock's improv phrasing, and Goloubev's astonishingly light-touch lyricism and cello-like purity.” The Guardian **** "The interplay between the two is like musical telepathy". Observer 4 stars**** "Reverie at Schloss Elmau is extraordinary" Tom Mooney, Wexford Echo "Reverie... is an intimate immaculate record rhapsodic, heartfelt, and true, the piano/bass format ideal for a chamber jazz setting" Stephen Graham, Marlbank**** "artfully blurs the lines between the written and the improvised, creating a sui generis music that sparkles with instrumental élan even as it tugs at the heartstrings" Cormac Larkin, Irish Times 4 stars**** "A perfect summation of the duo's masterful synthesis of jazz and classical elements". The Jazz Mann 4 stars**** "If there were a knife edge between jazz and classical music, then this whole album dances upon it like a high wire act of immeasurable daring. But, of course, it’s more like a rich shared, overlapping land of high peaks and deep valleys, and Simcock and Goloubev, like Andrew Graham-Dixon and Giorgio Locatelli in their just finished TV series Italy Unpacked, are our generous and adventurous guides". Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast "...one of the most promising duos in European Jazz with a creative language and their own sound." Jazz News France BIOGRAPHIES Welsh born Gwilym Simcock, BBC Radio 3 Jazz Award winner and first ever BBC Radio 3 New Generations Jazz Artist, has been described as a ‘jazzier’ John Taylor, his style reminiscent of Keith Jarrett, his piano playing ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’, ‘dazzling’. His ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’ make him stand out as one of the most gifted performers and imaginative composers working on the British scene. Able to move effortlessly through jazz and classical he can at times inhabit both worlds. The music is engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex and wonderfully optimistic. His magnificent 2008 premiere “Progressions” with the BBC Concert Orchestra enthralled a sell-out Proms audience and many thousands more on BBC2 TV. His many commissions include work for Sacconi Strings and Acoustic Triangle, "Contours" for the Aronowitz Ensemble, "I Prefer the Gorgeous Freedom" a Norfolk and Norwich Festival commission for community choir and jazz quartet, and "Simple Tales" for Britten Sinfonia soloists, “Move!” for The City of London Sinfonia and “Cumbrian Thaw” for the London Symphony Orchestra. He composes regularly for the NDR Big Band in Germany as well as writing for his own solo, duo, trio and quartet projects. His solo album "Good Days at Schloss Elmau" on the prestigious German label ACT was lauded as "dazzlingly fresh", "world class", "stupendous" "phenomenal" "a cause for huge celebration" and was nominated for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize. He tours regularly in Europe and beyond playing solo piano and the Anglo American supergroup "The Impossible Gentlemen" (with Mike Walker, Steve Swallow/Steve Rodby and Adam Nussbaum). His duo album with Yuri Goloubev is due for release on ACT in 2014. “No young musician outside the pop world has moved as fast into the upper reaches of his profession as Simcock”. Stuart Nicholson, Observer www.gwilymsimcock.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/gwilymsimcock Twitter: @gwilymsimcock Russian born Yuri Goloubev is a true rarity and exception in the musical world. In the early part of his career he performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues with the likes of Rostropovich and Bashmet, Galway and Quasthoff as Principal Bass in the world famed “Moscow Soloists” recording for such labels as EMI and SONY Classical (including one Grammy nomination). In 2004 he moved to Milan, Italy where he devoted himself to jazz music reaching the same top level in this genre and performing at major festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, London Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Perth Festival, Jazzahead and many more and recording for jazz labels ACT, Universal and Basho. Yuri Goloubev's playing is featured on over 80 albums, including several CDs as band leader and composer. His latest album for the prestigious German label ACT is a duo with pianist Gwilym Simcock. Has also collaborated with such orchestras as Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala and Orchestra Filarmonica Toscanini and conducted workshops in Ireland, United Kingdom, USA, Croatia, Italy. From 2007 till 2009 he was a faculty member of Centro Professione Musica in Milan (CPM) teaching “Jazz Languages” course, as well as Jazz Theory Course, and in 2010 he was appointed the Jazz Double Bass Professor at Trento Conservatory (Italy). Yuri Goloubev has written a number of jazz and chamber music works as well as transcriptions and arrangements published in Russia, Germany and United States. He has been featured in articles in “Harper’s Bazaar”, “Corriere Della Sera”, “La Stampa”, “Jazzit”. “...the prodigiously skilled and musical bassist Yuri Goloubev...an alertness and watchfulness in his gaze and his every gesture - it's mesmerizing to watch” Sebastian Scotney, London Jazz www.yurigoloubev.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simcockgoloubev CONTACT: Christine Allen, Basho Music 18 Linhope Street London NW1 6HT +44 207 EUROPEAN BOOKINGS 7242389 tel | +44 7771 932957 mobile Michele Himmelrich +41 79 829 02 70 [email protected] [email protected] www.bashomusic.co.uk Twitter: @mi4jam Twitter: @bashomusic .