Orlando le Fleming & Romantic Funk

Album Release

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

"Outstanding” is an overused description but one that’s applied to bassist Orlando le Fleming so consistently that its justification can’t be denied. While living in New York he brought his inimitable personality to work on projects for the likes of Branford Marsalis, Joey Calderazzo, Antonio Sanchez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bill Charlap, Billy Cobham, Kevin Hays, Wayne Krantz, Jimmy Cobb, Ari Hoenig, Seamus Blake, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Leslie Odom Jr, Mark Turner and David Sanchez among many others.

As a leader he shines even brighter — his drum-less OWL Trio (with long time associates Will Vinson and Lage Lund) gained plaudits across the boardfor its hushed, intimateatmosphere.

Downbeat declared “Everything aboutthis album, is a resounding success. The music swings effortlessly, every utterance is gorgeous and the recording is intimate and beautiful.”

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"Long may Orlando Le Fleming's electric jazz renaissance continue."

Jazzwise Magazine (Editor's Choice)

Book tickets for Orlando le Fleming & Romantic Funk

After 20 years in New York City, he’s back in his native UK, forgingnew pathways and renewing old partnerships. His love for the acoustic tradition continues unabated alongside his deep afection for the robust, muscular electric fusion that emerged in the 1980s. The Romantic Funk project was born in New York’s legendary 55 Bar to explore that legacy: now the new album Wandering Talk builds on the acclaim generated by 2020’s The Unfamiliar, building on the framework with a set of collaborators that brings together London and New York, past and present, acoustic and electric, and merges it all into a spectacular whole. Old London friends Tom Cawley and James Maddren completed the rhythm section: new acquaintance Nathaniel Facey was picked from the ranks of the UK’s brightest young horn players: NYC stalwart Philip Dizack flew in from the US to play trumpet: and reaching back to Orlando’s schooldays and forward to his own family, onetime classmate Chris Martin (now of stadium rockers Coldplay) and his own daughter Nadia combined to provide vocals on a special setting of Rumi’s poetry.

This latest incarnation of Romantic Funk dazzles with its unashamed virtuosity but there’s a new depth of dynamic and meaning that pulls the listener into Orlando le Fleming’s continuously evolving sound world and the Wandering Talk that inspires it. The new album will be out on June 21st on Whirlwind Recordings.

Band Line Up

Nathaniel Facey (alto sax)

Tom Cawley (keys)

James Maddren (drums)

Orlando le Fleming (bass)