Matt's Mood
Encyclopedia
Matt's Mood is the 2004 "temporary comeback" album
by UK outfit Matt Bianco
, released for Universal, and distributed by the Emarcy label. The album makes heavy use of Danny White and Basia Trzetrzelewska's signature harmonies. The two rejoined the band
after twenty years (only to leave shortly after the end of the promotional world tour to revitalise their own career under the joint name of Basia
). The third member on this installation of Matt Bianco is vocalist and composer
Mark Reilly, whom many identify as the face of the band, being the only one constant member since its inception in 1983. This album attempted to sound similar to Whose Side Are You On?
, which spanned a number of popular hit single
s in the eighties.
Among the songs on the new album is "Ronnie's Samba": a collage
of solo material by the late Ronnie Ross
, a legendary baritone saxophonist, who also played on early Matt Bianco material, woven into a tribute
to his immortal craft. The record also features the flute
s and saxophone
s of Andrew Ross
, continuing in the tradition of the more famous Ronnie. While the group's debut album was mostly written and produced by Reilly and White, with some help from Ross
himself, the also late Brazil
ian bass
player Kito Poncioni (who was the third original member of early Matt Bianco, before Basia was recruited), and Peter Collins
for Loose End Productions, their new long playing work was entirely written by the three original members of Matt Bianco, that is Reilly, White and Trzetrzelewska, whereas there is no trace here of Mark Fisher
, who is part of the Matt Bianco duo line-up, before and after this short-lived but intense reunion.
The 2004 work also perfectly fits in the band's tradition of inserting at least an instrumental
track within their album track listings. It is the case of the semi-title track: "Matt's Mood III" not only suggests the album title itself, but follows two very popular stand-out 1984 tracks, i.e. "Matt's Mood" and "Matt's Mood II", respectively closing Side 1 and Side 2 of the original vinyl recording for Whose Side Are You On?, the former even getting a joint A-side release, on a double A-side single, along with "Sneaking Out the Back Door", in May 1984 (though going no further than Number 44, but yet staying for 7 weeks in the UK Single Charts). Needless to say, the new work seems to follow its far removed predecessor much closer in mood than it actually is in time: the original trio has not lost its peculiar Latin
jazz style at all, and this is not only clear in song titles, self-evidently recalling or actually using terms from the Neolatin languages
, such as the mentioned "Ronnie's Samba" or "La Luna" (either Spanish
or Italian
for the English
'The Moon'), but throughout the album, in the also mentioned opener "Ordinary Day", for example, as well as in almost all of the other songs, such as "Golden Days", "Wrong Side of the Street", "Kaleidoscope" or "Slip & Sliding".
The format of the album: made up of exactly 10 tracks and approximately lasting 45 minutes, this latest (indeed, though currently playing back together again, Fisher and Reilly haven't released any other new recording ever since as yet) Matt Bianco long-playing work seems to issue straight out of the Eighties
, closely connecting it to the gold and double platinum
Whose Side Are You On? of 1984.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by UK outfit Matt Bianco
Matt Bianco
Matt Bianco is a UK band that was formed in 1983. They are mainly known for their success in the mid 1980s and their jazz, Latin-flavoured music....
, released for Universal, and distributed by the Emarcy label. The album makes heavy use of Danny White and Basia Trzetrzelewska's signature harmonies. The two rejoined the band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
after twenty years (only to leave shortly after the end of the promotional world tour to revitalise their own career under the joint name of Basia
Basia
Basia Trzetrzelewska is a Polish singer-songwriter and record producer. She established a successful international recording career featuring characteristically Latin-flavoured jazz-pop crossover songs during the late 1980s and early 1990s and the late 2000s and 2010s, particularly in the United...
). The third member on this installation of Matt Bianco is vocalist and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Mark Reilly, whom many identify as the face of the band, being the only one constant member since its inception in 1983. This album attempted to sound similar to Whose Side Are You On?
Whose Side Are You On?
Whose Side Are You On? was the first album by Matt Bianco. Released in 1984, the title has long been out of print in most territories. For this album, Matt Bianco was a trio of Basia Trzetrzelewska , Mark Reilly , and Danny White .This album contains the band's first five chart UK hits, including...
, which spanned a number of popular hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s in the eighties.
Among the songs on the new album is "Ronnie's Samba": a collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
of solo material by the late Ronnie Ross
Ronnie Ross
Albert Ronald "Ronnie" Ross was a jazz baritone saxophonist.Ross moved to England in 1946 and began playing tenor saxophone in the 1950s with Tony Kinsey, Ted Heath, and Don Rendell. During his tenure with Rendell he switched to baritone saxophone...
, a legendary baritone saxophonist, who also played on early Matt Bianco material, woven into a tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to his immortal craft. The record also features the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s and saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
s of Andrew Ross
Andrew Ross
Andrew Ross is currently a professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University. A writer for Artforum, The Nation and The Village Voice, he is also the author and/or editor of numerous books...
, continuing in the tradition of the more famous Ronnie. While the group's debut album was mostly written and produced by Reilly and White, with some help from Ross
Ronnie Ross
Albert Ronald "Ronnie" Ross was a jazz baritone saxophonist.Ross moved to England in 1946 and began playing tenor saxophone in the 1950s with Tony Kinsey, Ted Heath, and Don Rendell. During his tenure with Rendell he switched to baritone saxophone...
himself, the also late Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
player Kito Poncioni (who was the third original member of early Matt Bianco, before Basia was recruited), and Peter Collins
Peter Collins (record producer)
Peter Collins is a record producer, born January 15, 1951, in London.In 1976 Collins was signed to Magnet Records and formed a group called Madison, along with Ziggy, Peter Spooner and Page 3 girl Cherri Gilham, to perform his pop song "Let It Ring"...
for Loose End Productions, their new long playing work was entirely written by the three original members of Matt Bianco, that is Reilly, White and Trzetrzelewska, whereas there is no trace here of Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher is a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central from 1983 to 2010 and Minister for the Arts between 1997-98.-Early life:...
, who is part of the Matt Bianco duo line-up, before and after this short-lived but intense reunion.
The 2004 work also perfectly fits in the band's tradition of inserting at least an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
track within their album track listings. It is the case of the semi-title track: "Matt's Mood III" not only suggests the album title itself, but follows two very popular stand-out 1984 tracks, i.e. "Matt's Mood" and "Matt's Mood II", respectively closing Side 1 and Side 2 of the original vinyl recording for Whose Side Are You On?, the former even getting a joint A-side release, on a double A-side single, along with "Sneaking Out the Back Door", in May 1984 (though going no further than Number 44, but yet staying for 7 weeks in the UK Single Charts). Needless to say, the new work seems to follow its far removed predecessor much closer in mood than it actually is in time: the original trio has not lost its peculiar Latin
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
jazz style at all, and this is not only clear in song titles, self-evidently recalling or actually using terms from the Neolatin languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, such as the mentioned "Ronnie's Samba" or "La Luna" (either Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
or Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
'The Moon'), but throughout the album, in the also mentioned opener "Ordinary Day", for example, as well as in almost all of the other songs, such as "Golden Days", "Wrong Side of the Street", "Kaleidoscope" or "Slip & Sliding".
The format of the album: made up of exactly 10 tracks and approximately lasting 45 minutes, this latest (indeed, though currently playing back together again, Fisher and Reilly haven't released any other new recording ever since as yet) Matt Bianco long-playing work seems to issue straight out of the Eighties
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, closely connecting it to the gold and double platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
Whose Side Are You On? of 1984.
Track listing
- "Ordinary Day" - 4:38
- "I Never Meant to" - 4:52
- "Wrong Side of the Street" - 4:04
- "La Luna" - 4:04
- "Say the Words" - 3:42
- "Golden Days" - 4:21
- "Ronnie's Samba" - 4:11
- "Kaleidoscope" - 4:25
- "Slip & Sliding" - 4:20
- "Matt's Mood III" - 5:33
Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| Europe Europe Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting... |
1984 | Universal/Emarcy | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
0602498199381 |