EMPIRICAL
Genres: Post Bop, 21st Century Modern, Eclectic Fusion • United Kingdom

Founded in 2007, Empirical is ‘still a reliable touchstone of contemporary British jazz at its most sophisticated’ today (Jazzwise). Featuring Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (double bass) and Shaney Forbes (drums), the band settled on its long-lived quartet line-up with Lewis Wright (vibraphone) in 2008. Following Lewis’s move to the USA, the trio have adopted a more flexible line-up, frequently featuring high-calibre guest artists. UK piano legend Jason Rebello and rising tenor sax star Alex Hitchcock joined the quartet on their 2024 release ‘Wonder is the Beginning’ (Whirlwind Recordings). Empirical’s forthcoming seventh full-length album ‘Like Lambs: To The Slaughter’ will feature  pianist maestro Ivo Neame and guitar virtuoso David Preston. The quartet had bonded through a sense of common purpose as Tom Farmer recalls: “I’d never met guys who took it so seriously. The process of studying together is really what brought us together, and we just carried on doing read more...