Playing a hypnotic fusion of jazz and down-tempo electronica, Cinematic Orchestra first emerged in the late 90s. The UK band centres around the composer and multi-instrumentalist Jason Swinscoe, but can also feature Luke Flowers and T. Daniel Howard (both drums), Patrick Carpenter (turntablism), Phil France (bass), Alex James (piano), Jamie Coleman (trumpet) and Tom Chant (saxophone/piano). Swinscoe first formed a group while studying Fine Art at Cardiff College, Wales in 1990. The band Crabladder was an experimental jazz fusion trio and they released a single on their own label, Power Tools before disbanding. Swinscoe continued to assemble recording equipment and records and by 1994 was DJing on Heart FM, a south London-based pirate radio station as well as at various London clubs and events.
Like several DJ-producers of his generation, Swinscoe sought a way of combining modern jazz sounds from the 60s and 70s with the beats and innovations of sample culture. By 1997, he was a competent enough studio technician to record five demo tracks at London's Blows Yard Studios. Swinscoe developed a technique of recording live studio jams around an original musical idea with a pianist, drummer, bass player, then samples and arranges the grooves, shaping them to fit the original idea. One of these early tracks, "Goatee Part 1" appeared on the compilation, Ninja Cuts 3 as did his remixes of RyuŒchi Sakamoto and Coldcut.
The Cinematic Orchestra debut, Motion appeared in 1999 and received ecstatic praise. The album led to Swinscoe and the "orchestra" being invited to play at Director's Guild Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony for the film director Stanley Kubrick in London. The following year Cinematic Orchestra toured extensively in Europe, including a performance at the Porto Film Festival in Portugal. This performance included the Orchestra playing an original score to Man With The Movie Camera, a 1929 film by Russian director, Dziga Vertov. Remixes 1998-2000, a compilation of Swinscoe's remixes for other artists such as Faze Action, DJ Krust, Kenji Eno and Piero UmilaniIn, was released in November. While Swinscoe was working on a second album he was commissioned by Gilles Peterson to cover Art Blakey's "Wheel Within A Wheel" for the DJ's second Worldwide compilation. Cinematic Orchestra's new studio set Every Day, was released in May 2002. Moving even further into jazz territory, the album featured two vocals by reclusive soul singer Fontella Bass, and a spellbinding collaboration with English rapper Roots Manuva.
After a four year hiatus, Swinscoe and the Cinematic Orchestra returned in 2007 with Ma Fleur. The jazz connections were toned down this time around, with the returning Bass, Lou Rhodes and Patrick Watson providing the vocal highlights. Notably, Swinscoe and Carpenter also record under the Neptune alias.
DISCOGRAPHY: Motion (Ninja Tune 1999)****, Every Day (Ninja Tune 2002)****, Man With A Movie Camera (Ninja Tune 2003)***, Ma Fleur (Ninja Tune 2007)****, Live At The Royal Albert Hall 02.11.2007 (Ninja Tune 2008)***.
COMPILATIONS: Remixes 1998-2000 (Ninja Tune 2000)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Man With A Movie Camera (Ninja Tune 2003).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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To Build A Home (Grey...
by The Cinematic Orchestra