Sharp Little Bones is a new project from Nottingham and the brainchild of bassist and composer Simon Paterson.
Following several successful post-pandemic live shows in Nottingham ("The music and sound immediately felt unique, and the band's performance got the crowd whooping. The audience demanded more… this night was a pleasure to behold", London Jazz News), the band attended a two-day session in the hot summer of 2022 and recorded 13 brand-new compositions. Picked up by Ubuntu Music, the resultant album, Sharp Little Bones (Volumes I & II), captures the energy, virtuosity, and soul of the house trio of Peggy's Skylight. Joined by MOBO-nominated, multi-BBC Jazz and Parliamentary Jazz Awards winner Tony Kofi, they become a quartet playing all original compositions that reach deep within but far beyond the jazz canon.
Their set has a fresh, contemporary appeal: live acoustic forces rooted in bebop and blues, embellished with tasteful electronics and warm, analogue synth textures: an eclectic audio melting pot of jazz, funk, blues, and bop; beautiful bass-led melodies, spacious ballads, spiritual and expansive atmospheres, hard swingers, and groove-led pieces packed full of vibe, with room for expressive solos and group-led improvisation within well-crafted, melodic writing and tight, rhythmical arrangements.
The LP has been entirely well-received by jazz critics, garnering consistently excellent acclaim in such publications as JazzWise ("engaging… hugely varied, this would be good to hear live"), Jazz Journal ("excellent, imaginative and absorbing work"), The Jazz Man("highly exciting live band") and BBC and Jazz FM have played various tracks on multiple occasions.