Album Title:    ‘Entity’

Release Date:    20 September 2024

“Triumphant return”  (Jazz FM Adam Alphabet Track of the Week)

“Very excited that the Neil Cowley Trio is back in business.  He’s a real master musician … a very wide conception of what a jazz trio can be (BBC Radio 2: Jamie Cullum)

“a sophisticated and evocative album, deeply impassioned with a delicate beauty that seems to breathe with every aspect of what it is to be human… nothing short of a masterpiece” UK Vibe)

“… as mysterious, melancholic and mesmerising as ever…. but it’s the very integrity of Entity, it’s singularity of mood, that is its strength. Welcome back; a must for fans” (Jazzwise **** Editor’s Choice)

In 2017, pianist and composer Neil Cowley pressed pause. Over the course of 12 years and 6 critically lauded albums he had built an army of fans with accolades rolling in. Yet the Neil Cowley Trio went into hiatus. Embracing a new musical direction, Cowley entered into a series of collaborations incorporating electronica and neo-classical production, squeezing emotion from an armoury of synths. Success reigned.  But after 7 years of solitary music making, he has something to say.  The power of technology that controls our lives is its ability to control our interactions with each other. The checking in on social media to circumnavigate the awkwardness of a moments silence, or the endless supply of studio tools to create the sonic effect of an orchestra, alone. It was time for him to return to the joy of human connection.  For Cowley, there are no closer musical allies and brotherhood than his Neil Cowley Trio cohort, bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins. A studio reunion was arranged, tears were shed, and Entity was born.

Entity is the magnificent new recording from Neil Cowley Trio, released on 20 September. It is three friends, reunited, giving their all to each other to reach one common goal, inspiring, conversing and metaphorically dancing together.  “Wandering in, it felt like coming home”. ‘Entity’ is neither a return nor a departure from the Neil Cowley Trio sound. It is the Neil Cowley Trio sound, with the finger lifted from the pause button.

It had been Cowley’s intention to introduce some of his extensive electronic instrument collection to the recording – to bring with him is experiences of the past years –  “but” he says “they just got in the way. Trying anything artificial just seemed like a token gesture, distracting from the magic of the three of us playing together, interfering with the human connection between us… nay, our reconnection!” So he boxed them back up and  returned them to his lock up to gather dust.

While the trio’s bombast and whimsy may have taken a back seat– this is after all a trio maturing – Cowley’s ear for a killer melody, majestic rolling grooves, power hungry cadences and emotionally charged pieces remain. Adam Alphabet is a jack-in-the-box head-nodder described by Neil as “rolling along like a surfboard on a bread slicer” (the intervening years have done little to dim Cowley’s infectious wit!) while the dreamy melody and indomitable pulse of Father Daughter has all the hallmarks of the Neil Cowley Trio ‘song without words’ format. The introspective V&A rolls flagrantly across bar lines blossoming into orchestral style eruptions as the drama intensifies, while the majesty of the epic opening track, Marble and the beauty of the expansive closing track Entity are masterclasses in expression, atmosphere and emotion.

“I feel as a species we are still learning how to interact with each other after the difficulties of recent years and technology doesn’t seem to want us to reignite those flames. It would rather we dwell in its artificiality and continue to scroll, jealously guarding our attention for commercial gain. 

Maybe this is my bands small contribution to some kind of human push back! In contrast to the machines we are slave to, we’re presenting something that is unmistakably human; communal, supportive, flexible, reactive, instantaneous and flawed; and perhaps, when we are at our most elevated and selfless, what you might call an entity!”

‘Entity’ is a magnificent return to form for the Neil Cowley Trio. It is a mature, sophisticated album of uplifting melody and delicate beauty. It is about the inherent joy, comfort and rewards of human connection in our digital world and an ode to friendship.

Entity: A body that has an identity separate from those of its constituent parts