Hampshire & Foat Galaxies Like Grains of Salt (2017)
The opening track of Hampshire & Foat’s eponymous debut album sounds like a clear, expertly crafted window looking out onto wondrous, wide-open space: The duo combines jazz with elements of folk and classical music and makes the whole affair sound effortless and genuinely curious.
When teaming up for their debut released in 2017, both members of Hampshire & Foat were already successful musicians in their own right: Greg Foat was one of the UK’s best-established jazz pianists, and Warren Hampshire’s indie band The Bees had been nominated for the Mercury prize back in 2002. Combining their skills was seen as fruitful by Hampshire & Foat and their listeners alike: Since their debut, they’ve released four more albums, most recently in 2021 (The Upturned Glass).
Hampshire & Foat are, of course, not the first well-established musicians to join forces: There are many Musical Greats that have formed so-called “supergroups” with other famous musicians later in their careers: There was, for example, The Traveling Wilburys. It had Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and George Harrison among its members, won a grammy, and released two studio albums before becoming dormant in the 90s (sadly before their planned tour happened—can you imagine?). There are instances like Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt releasing several albums together in-between their solo titles but never officially forming a band. And then there are cases like The Foo Fighters, who since their beginnings have become a household name in their own right.
Whether Hampshire & Foat will release more music of their own anytime soon is unclear—but in any case, they have already proven that combining their well-skilled forces leads to great results.
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