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Nathan Haines - Vermillion Skies Album Review

24 Mar 2013 // A review by Miss_Jukebox

On a road of passionate red, the gorgeous and the ever-elegant saxophone dazzles and electrifies the room with a musical charge. This is the weapon of love for Nathan Haines. The highly regarded musician is releasing Vermillion Skies a beautiful collection of sophisticated renditions of adult-contemporary jazz. The album, due for release this week, will be the ninth studio album from Haines. 

Vermillion Skies is romantic Europe in its atmosphere. Which makes sense as Haines and his wife moved to London and this was the setting for where the songs were written. There is a retro feel to the album, and I would attribute the deep-rooted city for its vintage and classic taste. 

An introductory sultry brass tune sings a romantic ode to a dusky London evening Celestial You. The song moves into a come-hither invitation for you to go and dance the night away. Between the swirling sax and the jubilant piano keys, Celestial You is invigorating jazz. Deep bass heartbeats soothingly are heard, as she enters the room with burgundy stilettos. Lady Lywa is an enthralling woman, swinging her hips slowly from side to side with the lull of the saxophone.

Then take an easy stroll down Navarino Street where the piano and the brass section come into beautiful harmony. Haines sings about the menacing possibilities veiled behind the curtains in the street. Things are never as they seem. In Five Dimensions the brass section and the pianos come unison, working together blissfully in this reclining number. First Light is a bluesy break in the album. The title track is poetic as it paints the set of Vermillion Skies. 

The sax takes full control of Frontier West in a vibrant, salsa-flavoured charmer of a song. Lament is the pensive conclusion to the album; a soulful song to the moonlight. It is a beautiful goodbye as everything all comes together in bliss at the end, and the sax signs off another gorgeous album. 

Haines is an expert on jazz. He has mastered the sound and the understanding of what makes a good jazz album. He nods to the legends like Miles Davis by taking an austere approach in Vermillion Skies

Vermillion Skies is an album that reaches Haines’ already high standard of musicality. Nine albums in and Nathan Haines keeps proving his own jazz legend status.

-Janise.

Vermillion Skies
View Track Listing
 

About Nathan Haines

Nathan Haines is an internationally renowned saxophonist, composer, producer, bandleader and vocalist with a body of work in multiple styles stretching back for over two decades.

The eldest son of Jazz bassist Kevin Haines, Nathan was born into a very musical home on the North Shore of Auckland. Along with guitarist brother Joel Haines, the pair alongside their father were playing major international Jazz Festivals in New Zealand by the mid 80's.

Nathan left for studies in New York in 1991 which immersed him in the worlds of Jazz, Hip-Hop and Latin music, all of which were to become a big part in the bands he went on to later form, and influence the records he would make.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Nathan Haines

Releases

Shift Left Reissue
Year: 2019
Type: Album
5 A Day
Year: 2014
Type: Album
Vermillion Skies
Year: 2013
Type: Album
The Poet's Embrace
Year: 2012
Type: Album
Heaven And Earth
Year: 2010
Type: Album
Music For Cocktail Lovers
Year: 2008
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Right Now
Year: 2007
Type: Album
The Chillfunk Years
Year: 2006
Type: Album
Life Time
Year: 2005
Type: Album
Return Of The Squire For Hire
Year: 2004
Type: Album
Squire For Hire
Year: 2003
Type: Album
Sound Travels
Year: 2001
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Soundkilla Sessions 1
Year: 1996
Type: Album
Shift Left
Year: 1994
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape

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