Cloud 10 Chip Wickham

• 1 Cloud 10 02:16
• 2 Stratospheric 06:57
• 3 Lower East Side 02:41
• 4 Winter 05:29
• 5 Tubby Chaser 08:33
• 6 Dark Eyes 02:24
• 7 The Hit 04:45
• 8 Before I Go 06:06
• Total Runtime 39:11

Info for Cloud 10

Cloud 10 features pianist Phil Wilkinson, vibes player Ton Risco, bassist Sneaky and drummer Jon Scott (all veterans of previous albums) together with harpist Amanda Whiting and percussionist Jack McCarthy whom Chip met touring in the Gondwana Orchestra, and rising star Irish trumpeter Eoin Grace who also doubles on flugelhorn. The album was recorded at the legendary all analogue Estudios Brazil in Madrid, with the band spending a week at Chip's house in the mountains just outside the city, eating and drinking together, listening to music till the small hours and recording all day. It was a magical time and the positivity seeped into the recording.

"It was a beautiful week of pure music and joy, I think you can hear it in the recording and that's the inspiration for the title: Cloud 10 is a place of a great happiness, way out beyond Cloud 9!"

And it is that purity, energy and joy, that makes Cloud 10 such a life-affirming recording and makes Chip the perfect addition to the Gondwana Records family. Lean in, you'll be on Cloud 10 too!

Chip Wickham is a jazz musician and producer who divides his time between Spain, UK and the Middle-East and who has made a name for himself with a series of beautifully crafted solo albums that draw equally on the hard swinging spiritual jazz of Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef and Sahih Shihab, alongside the music of British jazz legends such as Tubby Hayes and Harold McNair and the more contemporary sounds of Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive and Robert Glasper.

Originally from Brighton, Chip studied in Manchester and became involved in the 00's UK jazz, soul. trip-hop and funk scenes, working with the likes of The Pharcyde, The New Mastersounds and Nightmares On Wax as well as playing with Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra. And his relationship with Gondwana Records goes right back to the very beginning as he played on Halsall's 2008 debut Sending My Love.

Cloud 10 is his debut album for Gondwana Records (following a 12" of Lonnie Liston Smith covers in May) and it is a wonderful, timeless, lyrical, slice of hard-hitting, soulful, spiritual jazz and modal hard-bop with a distinctly UK flavour - driven by Chip's deftly funky flute work and hard-hitting tenor. Underpinned by Chip's restless energy and driven by his desire to connect with the listener on a deeper level.

"My albums are my legacy. Each one is a statement to the world of music and my contribution to its growth, its energy and ultimately it's history."

Chip Wickham, saxophone, flutes
Phil Wilkinson, piano
Ton Risco, vibraphone
Sneaky, bass
Jon Scott, drums
Amanda Whiting, hap
Jack McCarthy, percussion

Chip Wickham
is a jazz musician and producer who divides his time between Spain, UK and the Middle-East and who has made a name for himself with a series of beautifully crafted solo albums that draw equally on the hard swinging spiritual jazz of Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef and Sahih Shihab, alongside the music of British jazz legends such as Tubby Hayes and Harold McNair and the more contemporary sounds of Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive and Robert Glasper.

Originally from Brighton, Chip studied in Manchester and became involved in the 00’s UK jazz, soul, trip-hop and funk scenes, working with the likes of The Pharcyde, The New Mastersounds and Nightmares On Wax as well as playing with Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Orchestra. And his relationship with Gondwana Records goes right back to the very beginning as he played on Halsall’s 2008 debut Sending My Love.

Phil Wilkinson
was born in 1978 in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He started fooling around with the keyboards at age four and, as of 1985, studied organ -his main instrument- for seven years.

He became interested in Jazz in the early nineties, alternating piano and organ, and by the time he was twenty he was teaching piano and improvisation at the Clarendon (Nottingham) University.

Phil later met Darius Brubeck, son of the legendary Dave Brubeck. He studied with Darius for one year, and had the opportunity of playing several two-piano concerts with him.

Wilkinson then moved to London, developing a successful career as a freelance musician, and appearing with some of the City’s finest musicians in clubs and concert venues such as The Vortex, The Jazz Cafe (Camden), The Royal Festival Hall, Pizza Express and The Purcell Room.

After a two-year stint in Ethiopia, where he taught piano at the Addis Ababa Conservatory, Phil moved to Spain in 2006, first living in Barcelona and later getting established in Malaga, where he presently resides. In 2010, Wilkinson had the opportunity to tour Europe with Grammy-nominated guitarist Will Bernard, replacing John Medeski.

Phil is also an accomplished bass-guitarist in the idiom of jazz-rock fusion, and has worked, on that instrument, with Brian Jackson (Gil Scott Heron), Mark Adams (Roy Ayers) y Joseph Bowie (Defunkt).

In later years, Phil has returned to his main instrument, the Hammond organ, and to straight-ahead Jazz. Between 2012 and 2013, Wilkinson has had the opportunity to work with Jazz legends like Larry Coryell, Alvin Queen, Mark Whitfield, Ulf Wakenius, Phillip Catherine, George Braith or Christian Escoudé.

Ton Risco
Although he’s been lately focussed in the vibraphone, Ton Risco has been always a drummer and percussionist.

Taking his first steps at the age of five under the guidance of his brother Fernando Risco, later he will study in different conservatoria in Galicia and with teachers like Marcos Vázquez, Federico Elías, Angel Celada or Pedro López.

In 1999 he moves to Holland to study at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he obtains bachellors in both, classical percussion and jazz vibraphone, with highest marks and special mention, in 2004 and 2006, respectively. There he studies with the vibraphonist Frits Landesbergen, the percussionist Ali N’Diaye Rose, from Senegal, and with percussion teachers from the comtemporary music area like Wim Vos, working directly with composers like Steve Reich, György Kurtág or Reinbert de Leeuw.

In 2013 takes lesson from the vibist Joe Locke in New York, as well as from Dave Samuels and Tony Miceli at the Delaware University (New Jersey), or David Friedman in Berlin.

Educated in classical and jazz, his eclectic character leads him to collaborate with a broad range of artists like Metropole Orkest (Amsterdam), Vince Mendoza, Kenny Werner, Asko Ensemble (Amsterdam), Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices, Galician Jazz Orchestra, NARF, Timbila Muzimba, Cristina Pato, X. Manuel Budiño, Nova Galega de Danza, Iago Fernández, Roberto Somoza, Paco Charlín, Víctor Prieto Trío, LAR Legido, Marcos Pin Factor E-Reset, Jacobo de Miguel, among others.

He also participates in festivals such as Zeltsman Marimba Festival (Wisconsin, USA), Holland Festival, Steve Reich Festival or Tai Pei International Percussion Convention (TIPC), in Taiwan.

During the last years, he focusses his activity in improvised music as a vibist and drummer in different projects as a freelance, combinning all this with teaching at the Conservatory in Santiago de Compostela.

Jon Scott
has spent the last ten years cementing his reputation as one of the most creative and flexible drummers on the UK and European jazz scene. With a broad range of stylistic influences and a restless desire to push into new musical territories, he is in constant demand as both an empathetic sideman and creative collaborator, in live and studio settings.

Jon currently tours the world with Mercury-nominated GoGo Penguin and Ethio-Jazz legend Mulatu Astatke. He performed with Shabaka Hutchings' renowned Sons of Kemet, co-leads the group Dice Factory with Tom Challenger and Tom Farmer, and is currently working with long-time musical colleague Michael Chillingworth on his new project. He works regularly with the progressively-minded pianists Ivo Neame and Alexander Hawkins, as well as elder statesmen of UK jazz such as Henry Lowther, Pete Hurt and Jim Mullen, and legendary LA-based singer Dwight Trible.

Jon spent ten years as the drummer for MOBO Award-winning Kairos 4Tet, and has been a member of London-based groups led by Jasper Høiby, George Crowley, Hannes Riepler, Rory Simmons, Alice Zawadzki and more. He has featured on over 40 recordings.

Booklet for Cloud 10