Byron Wallen has been described as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive" (Jazzwise Magazine). His 'Black Flag' project started life in 2004 as 'Dangerous Duets': a series of improvising duos performing live in response to the photography of Annabel Elgar. In 2022 this project was revisited and released as a book of photographs and a CD featuring Byron on trumpet and his long-term musical partner, Nick Ramm, on keyboards.

Informed by Byron’s own experience, this music charts the psychological and emotional frontiers of contact between a mother and her son separated by the Atlantic Ocean. It dives into the multi-layered toxic waste caused by global imperialism and colonialism and the creation of lost souls and generations living in socio-economic poverty confined within a mental bubble of paralysis. Byron invites us to "explore the shifting balance of power between the urban and rural with a glimpse of light before the Sun".

"A moment for transcendence on loop. A reminder of a home outside of ourselves. An affirmation that oneness of spirit is both our journey and destination. The Black Flag is an exercise in becoming. The spirit of hope, woven in sound"
(Dr Aditi Jaganathan)

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Black Flag
Byron Wallen website
👁 Extract of a duet set with Lemn Sissay and Byron Wallen
👂 Listen/read about Black Flag (album 2022)
Nick Ramm website
👁 The Cinematic Orchestra - Time & Space (ft Nick Ramm)
👂 Hello Skinny - Hello Skinny (ft Nick Ramm) via Bandcamp