"…boldest album yet… Lush and ambitious, it’s cinematically compelling from the off” - MOJO

Days on Earth is Mark Lockheart’s most ambitious album to date, wrapping 25 years of musical and life influences into a one career-defining album. With a heavyweight band featuring some of the leading figures of British Jazz including Liam Noble, Tom Herbert, Seb Rochford and John Parricelli, and a 30 piece orchestra, Days on Earth combines off-kilter Polar Bear grooves with unique and fascinating orchestral colours, all beautifully performed by a specially assembled crack London orchestra. Days on Earth shines a spotlight on Mark both as an exemplary instrumentalist and as a fine composer, firmly establishing him as one of the most original voices in European Jazz.

Drawing from a vast palette of eclectic tastes, from cutting edge improvising to soaring strings, African Kora harp melodies and 70’s inspired funk, the album is structured as a ‘grand suite’. Each of the six movements is inspired by human traits and tendencies – a subtle comment on the state of our world: the fragility and strength of humankind (This Much I Know Is True), fundamentalism and those who fail to question their beliefs (Believers), the innate tendencies buried deep in our psyche that are sometimes the path to trouble (Party Animal) and reconciliation (Long Way Gone)

Mark’s words:

I started writing the six movements of this piece in 2016 and in December 2017 recorded the music with a specially-selected orchestra and five of my favourite improvisers at Mark Knofler's famous British Grove studios.

Days On Earth features old and new friends with whom I’ve collaborated and developed close musical relationships over the years, including Seb Rochford (drums), Liam Noble (piano), Tom Herbert (bass), Roland Sutherland (flutes), John Parricelli (guitar) and Laura Jurd (trumpet). Also present is a new friend and amazing alto player, Alice Leggett. Alice has a very special way of improvising but also got the concept, straight away, of playing my melodies with the character I envisaged. The strings were led by the incredible Jackie Shave, who is also a featured soloist on a track called Triana. 

I've been told Days On Earth is 'epic' and I guess it is, but more importantly it’s a personal musical statement for me — both as a musician and a human being.

The album has received some great reviews, including a four-star Guardian review, as well as appearing in the Financial Times, The Times, MOJO, RONDO, Downbeat and Jazzwise. The first performance took place at Milton Court, with the incredible Guildhall Studio Orchestra, on 9th January 2019.

“Lockheart’s laconically Wayne Shorter-ish sax sound, and influences including Duke Ellington, Gil Evans and Burt Bacharach as well as his Loose Tubes and Polar Bear alumni, have brought him now to the most ambitious recording of his two decades as a leader” - Guardian ****. Read full review here.

“It’s an impressive achievement in both concept and execution, the work of a musician who has reached middle-age with his adventurous spirit still intact and is prepared to take musical as well as financial risks to bring his project to fruition.” - Jazzwize ****. Read full review here.

“His most ambitious project yet and an obvious labour of love, “Days On Earth” is shaping up to be a triumph for Lockheart.” - The Jazz Man. Read full review here.

“Throughout the program, Lockheart frequently crafts segments within each of the seven songs, so an element of unpredictability arises and the overall momentum never sags.” - Downbeat. Read full review here.

“Lockheart captures this broad range of emotion by interweaving the spiky lines and smooth contours of contemporary European jazz with the shifting textures of a 30-piece orchestra conducted by John Ashton Thomas” - Financial Times. Read full review here if you have a subscription.

“Days On Earth can therefore be chalked up as another fine recording where the composer is looking to take their music forward and not afraid to look outside the conventional framework that is often defined and perceived within their chosen genre, and comes unreservedly recommended.” - Jazz Views. Read full review here.