A review of Mark Wingfield’s Elemental album on the Cirdecsongs blog prompted another expedition into unknown regions of cyberspace. The burning question was “Who is that guy?”.

It turns out that Mark Wingfield is an English jazz guitarist with strong connections to some of my favourite musicians. My first stop was his 2024 album, The Gathering. With credits for Gary Husband, Asaf Sirkis, Tony Levin and Percy Jones, it drew me in like the irresistible field of the Great Attractor. Anything that draws inspiration from John McLaughlin’s band (Husband), Soft Machine (Sirkis), King Crimson (Levin) and Brand X (Jones) had to be worth a spin. And it didn’t disappoint in the slightest.

There is an air of mystery throughout this sparkling piece of aural art. From the track titles to the Asian melodic figures, from the composed score to the improvised embellishments, from the live recording to the later overdubs, it has a haunting effect on the listener.

Authoritative sources say that The Gathering was originally recorded by Wingfield, Husband and Sirkis working as a trio. The bass parts were recorded separately and added later. But you wouldn’t know it.

It is somewhat difficult to comprehend that the recording took place like this, as it appears seamless, with all musicians sounding as if they were in the room at the same time bouncing off each other.

Kev Rowland

Birds flock together in murmurations of tens of thousands. Some land animals gather in even greater numbers to migrate. Humans come together in large numbers mainly to celebrate religious festivals. The 2025 Kumbh Mela, for example, is believed to have attracted crowds totalling 670 millions. Music festivals are insignificant by comparison. A Rod Stewart concert in Copacabana in 1994 amassed an estimated 4.2 million people; Woodstock only managed about 400,000. But, to make good music, you only need a small gathering. Just three or four will do, if you pick the right musicians, as Mark Wingfield has so ably demonstrated.