Jim Watson - Calling You Home [CD]

<p>Jim Watson is the first-call pianist for a range of internationally renowned artists from across the pop spectrum - including Van Morrison and Incognito - while maintaining a busy schedule of touring and teaching at the heart of the UK's jazz scene. 'Calling You Home' finds him right back where it all began - seated by himself at the piano, with no-one else in the room, just playing the music that feels closest to him.</p><p>"It's how I began playing as a child - how we all start. I just wanted to go in and do something that felt easy and natural". The solo piano record is a format that's at once intimate and revealing - there's nowhere to hide, but at the same time there's the freedom to explore the music that's closest to the performer. Looking in the musical mirror, Jim was inspired to create a set of original compositions that incorporate some of his most personal inspirations and set them alongside an eclectic selection of some of his favourite pop tunes from across the ages. "I locked myself in the studio and wrote six tunes in six days!"</p><p>The title track and centrepiece of the record is 'Calling You Home' - a gospel-inflected song written by Jim and named by his wife, evoking a powerful sense of belonging, and of being at peace within oneself. "Calling You Home" is at once introspective and generous in the way it reaches out to the listener - the sound of a player who's at home both figuratively and literally, reaching inside to find his favourite musical resonances and reaching out to share them with the listener. "It felt really natural - a return back to where it all started, the place I feel most happy."</p>