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In June 2008, Empirical were invited to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival (read about it here!). This landmark concert marked the end of a musical journey that started with the release of our self titled debut album in early 2007.
We had been performing the same set of music with the same line-up for almost two years, so felt it was time to develop the ensemble sound. The group had always been fascinated by Eric Dolphy’s music, particularly ‘Out to Lunch’, so naturally began to study it in greater depth. This led to us learning repertoire from Out to lunch, rehearsing them and performing them at the Con Cellar Bar Camden. In September 2008, our personnel changed to include a fantastic new talent – Lewis Wright. Lewis’ vibraphone reflected the sound of 'Out to lunch' and the project became fully formed. With the inclusion of Lewis the music developed to reflect our own voices. Nathaniel and Tom contributed six original pieces, written in response to Dolphy’s life and music.  With this original music, Courtney Pine gave us an opportunity to perform the project as part of his Destin-E Records night at the Stables, Wavendon. He enjoyed the music and encouraged us to perform it again as part of the London Jazz Festival at the Barbican. The concert was the first big exposure of the project and was well received by the audience and the press.  Following this success, we introduced the project into our other gigs around the country – in venues such as the Early Music Centre, York. We started to phase out the old repertoire and named the project Out ‘n’ In.
As winners of the 2007 Pete Whittingham Award, we were looking to record an album before the end of 2008. It seemed perfect to document the project. With the recording session booked for Christmas, we embarked on planning the album inviting Julian Siegel to perform and Jason Yarde to produce the record. In December 2008, Dennis Rollins gave us the opportunity to support him in at the Carling Academy Oxford. We were joined by Julian on stage and Jason behind the scenes to rehearse the music in view of the impending recording. Watch a video of the gig! The session was just before Christmas at Pinewood Studios. With the skills of Dave Moore behind the desk, the recording was a success despite Lewis crashing his car on day three! Look at some Photos from the session!
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With the record in the mixing and mastering stage, we toured the project around the country starting with a three day double bill at Ronnie Scott’s London. We were joined by special guests Julian Siegel on the first night and frequent collaborator pianist George Fogel on the second.
The Anvil, Wakefield Jazz, The Newbury Music Festival, The Alnwick Playhouse, The Blackfriars Art Centre, The Sligo Jazz Festival, JJ Smyths and the Southbank's Purcell Room all featured the project as part of their 2009 programmes. At the 2009 Bath International Festival, we were honoured to support Branford Marsalis with the project. This festival also saw the beginnings of our “Walk Tall” project, a homage to Cannonball Adderley, which is now an ongoing collaboration with Kevin LeGendre. With the mastering complete, we were approached by Simon Drake of Naim Jazz, who was interested in the project. We signed a licensing deal, and began the artwork, collaborating with a fantastic young artist, Dan Strange.  The album will be release on the Monday 28th September 2009, and the project continues. New compositions inspired by other Dolphy albums and concepts are now regular in the set, and we are set to tour extensively around Britain. We will mark the one year anniversary as part of the London Jazz Festival 2009 at a new venue – The Forge in Camden on 21st November.
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