Matthew Halsall

Jazz trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall evokes Miles Davis and Alice Coltrane with his lyrical playing style and luscious compositions, putting a fresh take on the modal and spiritual-jazz sounds of the ’60s and ’70s on his solo albums and as the head of the label Gondwana Records. Born in 1983, Halsall grew up in Manchester and was six years old when he first picked up the cornet. His parents took him every Sunday to afternoon jazz jams held in a venue housed in an old cotton-spinning mill, and as he developed his chops, he returned to that hub regularly to attend master classes hosted by trumpet legends like Roy Hargrove and Maynard Ferguson. After finishing his studies, he immersed himself in a burgeoning scene centred on the Manchester club Matt & Phred’s, and he poured his passion for Eastern philosophy and Pharoah Sanders into his 2008 debut album, Sending My Love. Halsall has continued releasing albums steadily ever since, earning a MOBO Award nomination and a Worldwide Award from DJ Gilles Peterson for his meditative style, full of sumptuous mood-building and swirling textures.