Ian Hill

When PolyGram refused to release his 1983 record Shook in either the U.S. or England, Iain Matthews became disillusioned and decided to put his career on hold indefinitely. Following a stint as an A&R man for both Island and Windham Hill Records, he returned in 1988 with an album dedicated solely to the songs of Jules Shear. Issued by Windham Hill, Walking a Changing Line was the label's first vocal release, though it still retained touches of the label's trademark new age sound throughout.

When Ian Gillan was recording his solo albums in the late 1970s and early '80s, Deep Purple's influence never went away. But Gillan did make an effort to try different things, and he was at his most experimental on Clear Air Turbulence. Enjoyable, if uneven, this album illustrates Gillan's willingness to take some chances. While the singer favors an aggressive hard rock groove on "Money Lender," the jazz fusion-influenced touches of "Over the Hill," "Goodhand Liza" and the title song could lead you to believe that you'd been listening to Weather Report and Return to Forever. Had Chick Corea formed an alliance with Deep Purple, perhaps it might sound something like "Over the Hill." Heavy metal and hard rock are in short supply on this album, which employs no less than five horn players and shows that Gillan didn't want to be a headbanger 100-percent of the time.

Ian Gillan was one of the foremost vocalists of the heavy metal style of rock that emerged in the 1970s, earning his greatest renown as a member of Deep Purple, though he also led bands named after himself…

Clear Air Turbulence is the second studio album by British jazz rock band Ian Gillan Band, released in 1977. The album was initially worked on during the period July 1976 to September 1976. A UK tour was promoted, though all of the dates were postponed until April 1977 in order that the new album could be rerecorded and remixed at Kingsway Recorders, London. Ian Gillan became dissatisfied with the final mixes of the album and this delayed its eventual release. What eventually became the album Clear Air Turbulence was remixed at Kingsway before release, but the original mix had taken place at Rockfield Studios in Wales.[4] In 1997 the original mix was released by Angel Air Records under the title The Rockfield Mixes and represents a "cleaner" (or at least earlier) version of the album.

After leaving Deep Purple in June 1973, Ian Gillan had retired from the music business to pursue other business ventures, including motorcycle engines, a country hotel / restaurant (with a guitar shaped swimming pool), and ownership of the Kingsway Recorders studio, where from April 1974 he began to work on his first post-Deep Purple solo tracks…

The music on this EP inhabits a particular corner of the bounteous repertory of characteristic pieces for violin and piano. Short without being slight, these miniatures are vibrant and emotive, getting to the heart of the matter with freshness and originality, and sharing a rich yet restrained harmonic language which is identifiably English in character.