![New release from VdGG co-founder Judge Smith! Guest appearance by David Jackson!]( "New release from VdGG co-founder Judge Smith! Guest appearance by David Jackson!")
New release from VdGG co-founder Judge Smith! Guest appearance by David Jackson!
A NEW JUDGE ALBUM IS ON THE WAY - ‘THE OVERSTAYER’
Judge Smith:
‘The Overstsayer’ is my fourth Songstory, and, at 18 minutes, it’s the shortest. It’s scored for pipe organ, saxophones and vocals, and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to call on a trio of exceptional musicians to breathe life into it. Robert Pettigrew, the organist, is a classically-trained keyboardist, arranger and theatrical Musical Director who I first worked with in 1976 and is the star pianist on my 2023 album ‘The Trick of The Lock’. Playing his full armoury of multiple saxophones, flutes and whistles is David Jackson, one of the few musicians that one can legitimately call ‘iconic’. His daughter, Dorie Jackson, is one of the most extraordinary female singers I have heard in recent years (as can be heard on her new solo album ‘Stupid Says Run’). These three musicians were responsible for their own exceptional orchestrations of my music.
Dorie and I provide the vocals, and these tell the story of ‘The Overstayer’ of the title, an unemployed headteacher in her own, un-named, country who comes to the UK on a tourist visa, determined to remain as an illegal ‘overstayer’. I have attempted to handle this politically sensitive storyline as delicately and even-handedly as I can, with her migration seen in the context of the flow of displaced peoples drifting inexorably over the centuries from East to West.
The music, I believe, is unusual and memorable with a subtle flavour of other cultures, and the combination of Organ and Saxophones is at times reminiscent of early Van der Graaf Generator. Despite my dispassionate treatment of the story, the overall effect of the piece has proved to be surprisingly emotional and moving.
‘The Overstayer’ is, I believe, too short to release economically as a physical CD, so, for the first time, my label ‘Masters Of Art’ will only be releasing the piece as a download on the digital streaming site Bandcamp. This will be available from the 4th July, and naturally will come with full artwork and libretto.
