With dates in Manchester, Southampton and London to follow release Colin Towns returns with a new Mask Orchestra album this autumn.

The Mask Orchestra, one of the most acclaimed UK big bands in recent decades, was formed in 1990 just as Loose Tubes, now happily back with us once again, were breaking up.

Energised by pulsing cinematic jazz-rock at its core Towns, a distinguished film and TV composer who in recent years has been devoting his energies to his small group Blue Touch Paper among other projects, the new album is called Drama, release number seven for the Orchestra inspired this time around by theatre and drama including music for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Equus and Macbeth as well as contemporary works such as Copenhagen and Terry Johnson’s Hysteria.

Among those in the orchestra joining Towns are a distinguished array of top UK players who include Tim Garland, Alan Skidmore, Peter King, Henry Lowther, Julian Siegel, Harry Brown and Ralph Salmins.

Mask Orchestra above with Colin Towns at the front on the right