Nathan Haines - Vermillion Skies (2013)

The follow-up to 2012's "The Poet's Embrace", Haines' 9th solo album produced by Mike Patto, "Vermillion Skies" was recorded at Auckland's famed York St Studios with the use of 'real room' reverb and with all band performances played live and together and in the same room. The Ampex 300A half inch tape machine was used once again, and Haines features on two-self penned vocals this time - the tongue-in-cheek "Navarino Street" about uber-trendy East London, and the psychedelic "single "First Light". Haines also wrote arrangements for the six-piece horn section, and the album closer "Lament" written by J.J Johnson as recorded by Miles Davis in 1958 was arranged by Wayne Senior and exudes a classy and lush sound rarely heard on modern jazz records.