Pluto O'Higgins & Luft, Dave O'Higgins & Rob Luft

• 1 Pluto 05:41
• 2 South Wind 07:15
• 3 Giant Steps GTI 07:56
• 4 Gayetski 05:48
• 5 Everything's Under Control 05:52
• 6 Vague Recollection 06:45
• 7 Four In One 05:32
• 8 Ballad For Barry 04:46
• 9 One for the Six 06:00
• Total Runtime 55:35

Info for Pluto

Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins & guitarist Rob Luft now present their 2nd co-led recording three years after “O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane”. Where the first album clearly did what it says on the tin, “Pluto”, as the title suggests, comes from another place. Seven of the nine songs are originals, and the remaining two are Monk & Trane hits from the 40-plus date tour in 2019 that evolved on the road.

The sonority has changed a little, too, with the Hammond organ of before replaced with piano and bass. This is straight-ahead modern jazz in the African-American tradition, clearly coming from the Monk and Trane lineage, but not bound to emulating it. You will hear Luft easily morphing Wes Montgomery with Bill Frisell, his own trademark soundscapes and worldly influences, while O’Higgins’ emotive melodies evoke Dexter, Trane, Joe Henderson and Brecker, with a melodic logic of his own.

"I'm so happy to be working with the great Dave O'Higgins on this second collaborative effort. Whilst the banner of O'Higgins & Luft might somewhat resemble the name of a lawyer's firm, it actually represents an incredibly fruitful artistic collaboration over the past five years! Working with Dave has helped me remain firmly grounded to the swinging roots of jazz, with our frontline blend of tenor sax and guitar clearly coming out of the hard-bop tradition, echoing the sound-world of Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane, Grant Green & Joe Henderson, or George Benson & Stanley Turrentine." (Rob Luft)

"The second collaboration with Rob was a very natural progression from the ‘Plays Monk & Trane’ album. We wanted to make our own compositional mark, whilst maintaining the straight-ahead orientation, and drawing from our extensive 2019 touring experience together with 50 shows. The process was incredibly quick, easy and natural once we’d got our dates aligned!" (Dave O’Higgins)

Ross Stanley began playing with the band on organ when the logistics of Scott Flanigan travelling from Northern Ireland were unsustainable. Equally adept on piano, this instrument was chosen for “Pluto”. This opened up a place for the exciting sound of Misha Mullov-Abbado on bass. American drummer, Rod Youngs, so integral to the vibe of the band on the 2019 tour, completes the lineup.

”Pluto” was recorded live in the studio, in one room with no overdubs. The playing began in earnest around noon, and by 5:15pm the album was finished and lunch had been taken. The material came together very easily and most tracks were 1st takes.

Dave O'Higgins, tenor- and soprano saxophone
Rob Luft, guitar
Ross Stanley, piano
Misha Mullov-Abbado, bass
Rod Youngs, drums

Dave O’Higgins
tenor and soprano sax sounds are highly personal and recognisable, with a clear sense of melodic development and adventure. A popular performer with the public, with an excellent sense of pacing and presentation, he has a wide palette from Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson through to Stanley Turrentine and Michael Brecker. He has relentlessly pursued artistic and sonic exploration and development with a deep respect for the tradition of the music.

Dave’s 21st album recording as leader is a collaboration with young guitar firebrand, Rob Luft, and is out now on the Ubuntu Music label (O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane- see DISCOGRAPHY). There is a 40-date tour set for the autumn with this thrilling new band, with Rod Youngs on drums and Scott Flanigan on organ.

Dave is a highly regarded educator at the London College of Contemporary Media, where he is the Jazz Pathway Leader.

He also runs a small specialist jazz recording studio (JVG), in search of the optimum way of recording jazz musicians through a combination of old techniques (á la Rudy Van Gelder) and newer innovations.

Dave has worked with some of the world’s finest musicans, including: Joey Calderazzo, Joe Locke, Dave Kikowski, Eric Alexander, Grant Stewart, Max Ionata, Phil Dwyer, Adam Nussbaum, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Kurt Elling, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gomez, Billy Childs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Chico Chagas, Stephane Grappelli, Michel Legrand. He has released 20 CDs as leader to date. He also wrote and produced the last Matt Bianco album, “Gravity”.

Also on the CV: Frank Sinatra (the last London appearance - a week at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992) and a tour and album with Ray Charles (Strong Love Affair).

Rob Luft
is an award-winning 28-year-old jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia. Praised by The Times for performances with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2015, who said he was destined “to achieve great things in the future”, Rob was subsequently the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from The Royal Academy of Music, and also of 2nd Prize in The 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival. His debut album, ‘Riser’, was released on Edition Records in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim from the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it’s a “very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”. Following the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – ‘Breakthrough Act’ in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in the 2018 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards.

His eagerly-awaited second album, “Life is the Dancer” was released in April 2020 to critical acclaim.

Concert highlights for Rob are performances with Django Bates, The Cinematic Orchestra, Loose Tubes, and Arve Henriksen. As well as leading his own quintet, Rob collaboratively runs several other projects, including a duo with the Albanian jazz/folk singer and ECM recording artist Elina Duni, a mainstream jazz quartet with Dave O’Higgins, and the nuevo tango quintet Deco Ensemble. Rob is also a regular member of some of London’s finest modern jazz groups, such as Byron Wallen’s “Four Corners”, Eddie Parker’s “Airborn”, and the Chris Batchelor/Steve Buckley quintet. His playing has been documented on a wide variety of albums over the past five years, and he appears on the ‘Sweet Sister Suite’ by Tommy Smith’s Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO); Liane Carroll’s album ‘Seaside’ (Linn Records); two albums from Italian drum virtuoso Enzo Zirilli on Milanese label UR Records (‘Zirobop’ & ‘Ten to Late’); and the latest release from Misha Mullov-Abbado on Edition Records (‘Cross-Platform Interchange’). He was the recipient of the 2015 Peter Whittingham Award as part of two collective ensembles: Patchwork Jazz Orchestra and jazz-rock quartet Big Bad Wolf.

In May 2019 Rob was selected as BBC New Generation Jazz Artist 2019-2022, an accolade granted to “some of the world’s most exceptional young musicians” (Emma Bloxham, Editor, BBC Radio 3). He has also collaborated with UK jazz great Dave O’Higgins on a new recording released on the Ubuntu Music label in October 2019 – ‘O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane’. The album, supported by a 40-date tour, showcased a thrilling new band, with Rod Youngs on drums and both Scott Flanigan & Ross Stanley on organ.

In 2022, Rob will be touring across the U.K. and continental Europe with several projects, such as his eponymous quintet, the “Lost Ships” project with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, Ellen Andrea Wang’s Closeness Trio, as well as much much more. Check out the gigs page for more information on Rob’s live touring schedule.

This album contains no booklet.