Arranger, composer and trombonist Callum Au is a familiar face in the studios and halls of the UK. Following an intense apprenticeship with NYJO (where he wrote 126 charts in around four years), and fifteen years of commercial and jazz writing, directing and playing, Au is finally able to set out his stall in his own way with this epic double album of big-band and jazz orchestral music.
Au summed up this position in the excellent UKJN feature by John Fordham (link below):
‘Well, it’s like if you’d been a painter at the stage where you’re imagining images that you can’t actually realise,’ Au says. ‘Always thinking, if I was doing that thing again, I would do it different if I could. But now, I don’t feel that way anymore. Everything you put out there’s nowadays is permanent, isn’t it? Once it’s streaming, it’s never off streaming, and that’s that. So I guess I now feel that I have to be totally sure It’s going to feel good enough to me, in ten, 15, 20 years.’
Every musician has been hand-picked for their role. There are some 80 players in total, centred around a classic big-band core. Different soloists are brought in for the various numbers, so the variety of voices and quality of the performances are outstanding. Recorded over a week at the huge newly-fitted Lady Eleanor Holles school studio in Twickenham, this is a collection to savour.
The two volumes have different aims. Volume 1 showcases Callum Au’s music exactly as he wants it. Having spent years working to realise the visions of others, this is his time. The seven tunes on this disc are mostly new compositions, with The Weaver appearing in a new upscale version. Swipe Right, the opener, is inspired by the social media short-format phenomenon, with each section stepping forward briefly before attention shifts elsewhere. Clarinettist Duncan Hemstock delivers a knock-out solo with clarity and elegance. If we are expected to think about Tinder, imagine it with mid-20th century photos – the music is straight out of the big-band top drawer.
Galt’s Motor is named after a perpetual motion machine in the novel Atlas Shrugged. Guitarist Jake Willson lays in with a powerful solo, while Nadim Teimoori appears in a delightful tenor sax cameo. Si Vis Pacem Para Carnyx features the prehistoric carnyx war-trumpet in a struggle between invading Romans (all splendour and power) against the Celts, represented by a sprightly folk trio of accordion, whistle and violin. Gareth Lockrane dances about in a lively piccolo solo. Tethys has a gorgeous thematic statement from Andy Wood on trombone, followed by orchestral woodwind (oboe, cor anglais, Irish whistle) leading gently forward.
Murmurations is inspired by flights of starlings swirling in the air. An orchestral number, it uses all the available resources with short solos for guitar, cello, horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and oboe with strings behind. Au takes the trombone solo before American tenor maestro Chad Lefkowitz-Brown arrives at full wail over the whole orchestra. It’s gripping stuff.
The Weaver tells the story of Penelope – wife of Odysseus – who patiently managed her husband’s estates while he was off gallivanting. Anthony Kerr’s vibes weave effectively before Nadim Teimoori comes back for a floating tenor sax spot. jazz.ai is a warning about machines we don’t understand, partly based on the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Narrated by Canadian singer Matt Forbes, we hear the story of fictional jazz trumpeter Sonny Fontaine, who is about to fail his final recital. His head of jazz, the Sorcerer, gives him an earful, after which he programmes an LLM, ‘sweep’, to take the test on his behalf. With trumpeter James Davison as Sonny Fontaine, Au himself as the Sorcerer and sax prodigy Emma Rawicz as sweep, there are fireworks in every direction. I am told that no AI was used in the creation of this track!
And that’s just Volume 1. Volume 2 is Callum Au’s homage to the big band tradition including his four-part Influencers Suite where Ellington, Basie, Kenny Wheeler and Dizzy Gillespie are reflected, along with NYJO founder Bill Ashton. It’s a total treat. The whole two-volume set is available now as a physical product, with Volume 1 also on streaming platforms. To stream Volume 2, you’ll have to wait until early 2027.
That’s not all. There are two concert score anthologies available, complete with Au’s detailed notes about the orchestrations and soloists. Almost incredibly, the charts are available too, initially in digital form, for modest sums from his Music Store. I can see this appealing around the world to adventurous band leaders as well as those studying arrangement and composition.
Sing Seven Seas is released on 7 June 2026. There is a launch gig at Kings Place, London on Saturday 30 May 2026.