2006. Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Probably around tea-time. Long-time lovers of all things jazz, funk, soul and hip hop, Alex Beauchamp and Mark Slater hand pick a skilled collective of like-minded players and form Middlewood Sessions with one purpose in mind: to forge heavyweight dancefloor jazz jams and widescreen downtempo beats influenced by their shared musical inspirations.
With strong initial support from Gilles Peterson, their debut 'Fall Back', an explosive and energising jazz dance monster was later released as on his Brownswood Recordings imprint in 2007, prompting heavy rotation in clubs and on radio across the globe. With its emotive vocal refrain, hard-driving drums and heavy horn arrangments, 'Fall Back' has a very immediate quality, a fact not lost on listeners of Peterson's Worldwide show who ranked the track at 13 in his 'Worldwide Winners' countdown of 2006.Now set for a forthcoming release on Wah Wah 45s ('Red Waters' and 'Astro Blue'), Middlewood Sessions are poised to take the next steps in their mission to bring cinematic jazz to discerning music lovers.
As Straight No Chaser magazine put it, "'Fall Back' illuminates how beautiful, cinematic and bursting with life contemporary British jazz can sound".
"This latest 12 is a stunning live jazz dance piece of eclectic brilliance." - Fat City
