The aptly-named Cinematic Orchestra were formed by Jason Swinscoe in 1999.
Taking on the role of bandleader, Swinscoe rallied a group of adventurous jazz players and delivered a debut album 'Motion' that took everyone by surprise and was voted album of the year by listeners to Gilles Peterson’s Radio One show.
If ‘Motion’ reflected the cinematic aspect of TCO, their second album ‘Every Day’, brought out more of the orchestral side, too. Arguably a more refined record than its predecessor, it is uncompromising in its approach nonetheless. On ‘Every Day’, Swinscoe worked with bass player Phil France as his co-pilot and co-producer, France’s background in jazz the perfect counterpoint to Swinscoe’s technical knowhow and emphasis on raw emotion.
In the last three years the Cinematics’ have shocked out from the Jazz Café to the Jazz Bop via Ronnie Scott’s. And in somewhat hardcore fashion they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit in the back of a transit van, with the dates culminating in a prestigious support slot for John McLaughlin in Central Park. They have toured in Germany, Japan, Italy and Portugal. They have also clocked up the music festival mileage appearing at, amongst others, Homelands and Essential (UK), Sonar (Spain), Celerico De Basto (Portugal), North Sea Jazz and Drum Rhythm (Holland), Cannes (France), Fuji Rock (Japan) and Montreux (Switzerland) and have headlined The Big Chill twice.
Suitably enough for a group who have become something of a household name in Portugal, Swinscoe and co. were commissioned to write and perform a new score for Dziga Vertov’s avant garde 1929 silent film ‘Man With The Movie Camera’. The band performed Swinscoe’s soundtrack live in Porto’s splendid Coliseu theatre in May 2000 in front of an audience of 3500 where they received a tumultuous ten minute standing ovation. 'Man With the Movie Camera' was released alongside the movie in the spring of 2003.
In 2004, Swinscoe relocated to Paris, which slightly altered the balance of work between himself and France during the making of “Ma Fleur” (and was also responsible for its French title). Then in 2006 he moved again, this time to Brooklyn, New York. Whilst in Paris, Swinscoe began work on the instrumentals, which would form the basis of his new record. Having completed a rough version by early 2005, he gave this to a friend who disappeared for 3 weeks and came back with short story scripts in which each track represented a scene. "The ‘sceenplay’ experiment led to a need for a much more direct relationship to words and stories. So it still has links with film and narrative, in fact was driven by it.”
Over the years, the membership of Cinematic Orchestra has gradually evolved. Alongside core members Swinscoe and Phil France is Tom Chant. For ‘Every Day’ young drumming legend Luke Flowers was recruited, and members of the current incarnation includes Nick Ramm and Stuart McCallum.
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