Stuart McCallum
The Space Between

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  • 1. And Finally
  • 2. Alfie
  • 3. Moment Us
  • 4. Yewfield
  • 5. String Quartet in G Minor, Excerpt from the Third Movement
  • 6. The Space Between
  • 7. As The Trees Waltz
  • 8. My Ideal
  • 9. Sky Dancer

The Space Between is the second album by long-term friends & guitarists McCallum and Walker. Following 2014’s Beholden, The Space Between is an album that expresses their love of melody and space, their friendship and respect, and the multifarious sounds and timbres that their instrument offers.

Release date: 25 November 2016

Stuart McCallum Acoustic guitar and electronics

Mike Walker Electric Guitar

Produced by Stuart McCallum

String Arrangements by Stuart McCallum and Mike Walker

Recorded and mixed by Patrick Phillips at Real World Studios, Box.
Strings recorded by Stuart McCallum at the Royal Northern College of
Music, Manchester.
Additional recording by Stuart McCallum at CSR Studios, Manchester and
Paul Allen at Bass Line Audio, Bury.

String Quartet on tracks 1, 3, 6 & 7:
Laura Senior/Gemma South - violins
Lucy Nolan - viola
Peggy Nolan - cello

Beholden featured spacious reimaginings of the guitarists’ compositions and jazz standards; the music was serene and elevated. The Space Between finds Stuart and Mike developing extra gravitas, focussing on McCallum originals written especially for the duo. In addition they include two exquisitely chosen standards: Bacharach & David’s ‘Alfie’ and ‘My Ideal’, also covered by Sonny Rollins, that sit perfectly in the set, balancing the flow

McCallum and Walker have had the privilege of working with an impressive range of musicians (Stuart with Cinematic Orchestra, Richard Spaven and Slowly Rolling Camera and Mike with Impossible Gentlemen, George Russell and Kenny Wheeler amoung others),  demonstrating the dynamism and musicality that they both have to offer. The Space Between is not just an album documenting a musical  friendship and the love felt for an instrument, it also raises both musicians to a new level and should earn them the respect, profile and greater audiences that their skills and their wide experience demand.

Recording in the Wood Room at Real World Studios has imparted an earthiness and warmth to the recording that complements the playing. Listening to ‘Aflie’ you can almost hear the log fire gently burning away into the night!

Restricting their roles to Walker on the electric guitar and McCallum on acoustic, The Space Between is a bold statement. McCallum and Walker are British guitar giants, equally proficient and skilled, yet with vastly different sounds, setups and backgrounds. As a duo, there’s a deep connection between these two musical minds, a great sense of unity, mutual respect and generosity. As a duo they are able to create something that transcends their individual brilliance to create music of real beauty and authority.

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