Dakota Suite, David Darling & Quentin Sirjacq

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 30 Sep, 2010.

If I had to review a Dakota Suite album I'd probably be a little nervous. The man Hooton has been known to darken our doors on several occasions as Phil has been flogging his wares quietly, yet consistently for nigh on 15 years. If I was to review the new Dakota Suite album I'd not know what to expect, their sleeves are normally very bleak, sporting black & white photography - sometimes blurred, sometimes sillouetted. I'd be expecting very solemn, sombre music with a miserabalist core. Sort of like Low or something. But lower. If I was to crack open the new Dakota Suite album and start throwing words about, attempting to describe the sounds within......I'd probably not be prepared for this spacious, graceful beauty, a collaboration with these other two chaps on cello & piano respectively. There's a thrilling atmosphere to this experimental chamber recording. One minute tragic & stern, the next playful, jazzy & light and on occasion things become briefly abstracted with some discordance & sudden bursts of improvisation. I love the way these 3 talented men manage the acoustics of this little Italian chapel, it is a wonder to behold. Some beautiful, profound music here that easily transcends, merely, the neo-classical realm & dips its toe mischievously in other areas. A lovely surprise!

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Limited 180g vinyl.

Stunning Chamber Music created by Dakota Suite's mastermind Chris Hooson, Cellist and Grammy-Winner David Darling and French piano master Quentin Sirjacq. Together they have created a magic album that easily crosses boundaries between Chamber-Pop, Jazz and Classical. Chris Hooson, who has lead Dakota Suite since the mid-90, on Vallisa: "it will remain the most moving, spiritual, nourishing, life changing evening of my life. What happened with those two men in Vallisa chapel in Bari will be something that moves me to my core each time i hear it. i know what it cost me, and i know that sharing a stage with David and Quentin was the best i think i can ever make of this small gift i have." David Darling is an american cellist and composer. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Bobby McFerrin and Spyro Gyra in addition to putting out several solo and small ensemble albums as well as albums of his compositions.in 2002 David was nominated for a grammy award for his album "Cello Blue'. Quentin Sirjacq, a native of Paris, studied classical piano from an early age. But by 15 he was a devotee of Ellington, Mingus and Coltrane, who exerted as strong an influence as Ravel and Satie. His interest in classical and jazz guided his studies at the royal conservatory in the Hague and at Mills college in oakland, california, and shaped his development as pianist and improviser to composer.

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