“It's one of the best UK jazz releases of 2023 a couple of months in” Marlbank ★ ★ ★ ★ “A triumphant piece of work” Blues and Soul Magazine >> READ FULL REVIEW HERE << “A Landmark Album” The Jazz World “A band of craftsmen playing the forms of acoustic jazz they relish, and their pleasure in that is infectiously palpable” John Fordham (Jazzwise) “Human Rhythm Machine” Marcos Valle “Where can I get those drums” Steve Winwood | View From Above, the long-anticipated debut by drummer/composer Tristan Banks, draws on over 30 years of experience as a sideman for many grammy award winning and multi platinum selling artists. Mixing influences from the jazz, latin and fusion idioms, the music is a unique combination of high-octane virtuosic performance and sublimely melodic composition. Banks unifies his long standing musical friends Paul Booth, John Crawford and Davide Mantovani to articulate his musical vision. Tristan’s debut album released on the Ubuntu Music record label March 31st 2023. | “The idea was to push the acoustic jazz quartet format to the limit, being able to re-image the possibilities that the classic saxophone, piano, bass, drums line-up can manifest, and by being conscious of the sonic traditions that are typically replayed to confirm the listeners tastes while avoiding the genres timbral cliches.” “I have always had an interest in music that makes you move as well as simulating the mind with musical interplay and deeper compositional concepts, so the idea was to select tunes that I had written over the last 15 years and record them in a live performance setting with no click track or isolation recording techniques. This created a perfect environment to generate and capture the musical energy of the performance.” |  'Devil Dust' the 2nd single from View From Above | | “The idea was to push the acoustic jazz quartet format to the limit, being able to re-image the possibilities that the classic saxophone, piano, bass, drums line-up can manifest, and by being conscious of the sonic traditions that are typically replayed to confirm the listeners tastes while avoiding the genres timbral cliches.” “I have always had an interest in music that makes you move as well as simulating the mind with musical interplay and deeper compositional concepts, so the idea was to select tunes that I had written over the last 15 years and record them in a live performance setting with no click track or isolation recording techniques. This created a perfect environment to generate and capture the musical energy of the performance.” “Ubuntu feels like the perfect fit for me, with many of my musical friends releasing their music through the label, and as the UK jazz scene goes from strength to strength I’m really happy to be working with Martin to bring my music into the world.” |  View From Above promotional video | | During his 30 year career as a recording artist and session musician building a reputation as a knowledgeable, versatile and authentic world-class drummer and percussionist. Tristan Banks has worked with many artists covering a wide field of musical genres including Roy Ayers, Steve Winwood, Dave Valentin, Beverley Knight, Hexagonal, David Gilmour, Peter King, Lewis Taylor, Guy Barker, Marcos Valle, Liane Carroll, Snowboy, Terry Callier, Da Lata, Jim Mullen, Carleen Anderson, Mayra Andrade, Ben Hillier (U2, Depeche Mode, Blur) Mike Lindup (Level 42) Hamish Stuart (AWB), Steve Howe (Yes), The Lion King (UK tour), Thriller Live (European, Brazilian tours) MC Conrad, Alexander O'Neal, Ive Mendes, Chico Cesar and Joe Lee Wilson (Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins) As a touring artist he has performed in many of the worlds top venues including Royal Festival hall, Central Park NYC, Royal Albert Hall, Joes Pub NYC, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Hammersmith Odeon, Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, North Sea Jazz Festivals, Shepherds Bush Empire, Blue Note Tokyo, V festival, Reading Festival, Womad Festivals, Glastonbury Festival. | Since March 25th 2022 Tristan has also been curator and venue manager at The Verdict Jazz Club in Brighton, restarting the venue after its closure due to the global pandemic of 2020, already receiving a nomination for Parliamentary Jazz Award Venue of the Year 2022, bringing many top UK and International Jazz artists to the club including Larry Goldings, Sarah Jane Morris, Ari Hoenig, Jim Mullen, Tony Kofi, David Binney, Claire Martin, Tony Remy, Liane Carroll, Laurence Cottle, B D Lenz, Yolanda Charles, Ivo Neame, Tom Ollendorff, Simon Spillett, Hexagonal, Ant Law, Emma Rawicz, Jackson Mathod as well as Ubuntu recording Artists, Quentin Collins, Matt Ridley, Paul Booth, Alina Bzhezhinska, Brandon Allen, Nigel Price, Trypl, Qow Trio, Andrew McCormack and Dave O’Higgins. | |
