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Catching Sunlight Reviews

Independent on Sunday
Phil Johnson , 14 December 2008

….individual pieces rank among the best performances I’ve heard all year. Commissioned by the Lunar Saxophone Quartet, composer/ pianist Stapleton’s masterstroke was to add trumpeter Neil Yates, who is revealed as a total star. If you like the Miles Davis of ‘Lift to the Scaffold’, you’ll love what Yates does here.

Vortex Jazz Website
November 2008

….this eleven‐piece commission for the Lunar Saxophone Quartet is subtitled ‘Music to an imaginary film’ – unsurprisingly, it is suitably dramatic, evocative and many‐hued…..the resultant work is rich and colourful, the LSQ providing harmonic ‘thickening’ to the ensemble sound as well as the odd sonorous, graceful solo (Joel Garthwaite’s soprano particularly ear catching, with its almost oboe like purity and elegance), and Yates compelling, vibrant and agile throughout.

Cardiff Jazz Society
Ken Cheetham, November 2008

…I think it is, simply, brilliant.  Here is some of the best new jazz around, both in conception and writing and its performance is exquisite. It really is brilliant.

The JazzMann
Ian Mann, Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The Lunar Saxophone Quartet fill an essentially textural role, adding colour to the ensemble passages and operating as a unit….Jazz soloing is not their business but their role in the overall success of the project is pivotal. Stapleton’s writing is rich and colourful and passes through many variations of mood and pace, sometimes in the course of a single piece.

JazzWise Magazine
Selwyn Harris 24th October 2008

….Contemporary ensemble recordings can sometimes get bogged down in textural detail only serving to obscure the whole. But not here; Stapleton creates a vivid canvas by setting contrasting layers of recurring rhythmic patterns against a strong melodic thrust.

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