releases

Aspirations

(2014)

Poetry in motion with beautifully clear-headed vocals

All About Jazz

4.5 stars. A breakthrough in leading-edge jazz vocals

The Weekend Australian

“a beautifully nuanced, varied, and soulful vision”

Australian Musician Network

Nominated for best Jazz Vocal Album in the 2015 Jazz Bell Awards.

Aspirations transcends its acoustic jazz instrumentation to worlds of electronically-augmented sonic atmospheres. Tom sings original prose and wordless music pondering the self and the natural world, featuring jazz improvisation, extended vocal techniques, and live electronic looping and effects processing. The album blends genres of jazz, pop, folk, electronica and world music in a truly unique vision.

Personnel

  • Tom Barton – Voice and live looping/effects
  • Joseph O’Connor – Piano
  • Philip Rex – Bass
  • Peter Evans – Drums
  • Stephen Magnusson – Guitar
  • Andy Sugg – Tenor Saxophone
  • Georgie Darvidis – Voice
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Connections

(2015)

Anyone with an open mind and two receptive ears should welcome this brave, sensitive and not infrequently brilliant music.

Roger Farbey

All About Jazz

A greater constancy to jazz’s restless spirit than any number of aspirational takes on the ‘Great American Songbook’.

Dan Bilawsky

All About Jazz

Connections is a brand new collaboration between guitarist Diego Villalta and Tom Barton. Recorded in Osaka, Japan, in May 2015, the full-length album was released in October, 2015.
Innovative jazz vocalist Tom Barton has joined with guitarist/composer Diego Villalta to release an album of improvised works recorded in Osaka, Japan, in early 2015. This album is the duo’s first recording, following years of musical collaboration between the Victorian College of the Arts graduates. Connections features daring explorations into the sublime and surreal, sketched with a diversity of musical techniques and electronic experimentation. Wholly improvised, the recording was inspired by the duo’s time touring Japan. The music is a journey between sacred inner spaces and the chaotic, wondrous natural world.

Personnel

  • Tom Barton – Voice and live looping/effects
  • Diego Villalta – Guitar and effects
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