The Cinematic Orchestra - All That You Give
(12"/CDS) Ninja Tune ZEN12103/ZENCDS103, 2002-04-22

CDS Tracklisting:
01 All That You Give (feat. Fontella Bass) - Radio/Video Edit
02 All That You Give - Herbert Remix
03 All That You Give - Doctor Rockit Remix
04 Kalima (Live)
05 All That You Give (feat. Fontella Bass) - Album Version

12" Tracklisting:
A1 All That You Give (feat. Fontella Bass) - Album Version
A2 Kalima (Live)
B1 All That You Give - Herbert Remix
B2 All That You Give - Dr Rockit Remix

Press Release :
In this time of spin, flim-flammery and hyperbole, where press releases constantly proclaim every tired re-tread a masterpiece and ‘originality' means wearing different clothes in your video, it's easy to get cynical. Sometimes it's necessary, even, otherwise you might expire in a frenzy of puff and hard sell. So you shut up in your shell and sneer at it all and that in its own way, feels pretty good. But every so often you see something, read something or hear something which lives up to or even exceeds all the bluster. And then, somehow, it feels even sweeter.

"All That You Give," the first single from The Cinematic Orchestra's new album, "Everyday," is one of those moments - an instant classic, one of the most heartfelt and moving songs you'll hear - not just this week, month or year. Like Billie Holliday's "Lover Man" colliding with "Unfinished Sympathy," it's a piece of music that's both fantastically lush and searingly minimal. That - more than anything else - rings true.

It's not clear that J. Swinscoe knew what he was going to get when he flew out to St Louis, USA, to record with r&b/soul/gospel/jazz legend Fontella Bass. He was a long-time admirer of the woman who had co-written and sung "Rescue Me" in the sixties but a particular fan of her seventies work with her husband, renowned trumpet player and innovative jazz rebel Lester Bowie, and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. After pursuing a number of dead ends, someone at his management company succeeded in tracking down a number for her, J. sent over his first album ("Motion"), they started to converse and hit it off.

Once they had decided on the direction for two collaborations, J. and bass player P.J. France flew out to St Louis and stayed there for a few days, spending time with Fontella and family, meeting all her grandkids and looking at lots of photos of Art Ensemble. Bowie had died two years previously and was still very much alive to her. She talked about him, played his music, looked at his pictures. Then she and J. recorded two incredible pieces of music. "I was surprised by how welcoming and warm it was - I was a little nervous that she might just do her job but she put everything into it."

They laid down "Evolution" (which also features on the album) with very few hitches, but Fontella was struggling with the music that would become "All That You Give" and J. couldn't quite understand why. And then suddenly it clicked and she poured out the melody and lyrics in one amazing take, beginning to cry as the tape was re-wound.
"It was the first time that she'd cried for Lester," J. explains. "She heard it as a love song - I think she heard it and she found it reminded her of Lester which was why it was hard." But it's also why the results are so beautiful, the kind of performance that comes out of trust and understanding between musicians. The song is dedicated to the memory of her late husband.

It's a sad song, undoubtedly, but also an uplifting one - a celebration of life as well as a memorial. And in that, it's a classic.