Composing for cinema and TV, trumpeter Jim Howard is used to writing music that works alongside predetermined scenes and storylines, and as a member of the bands Moonscape, Forever Between, Beyond The Treeline and Day For Night, keeps his improvisational mind sharp. With his new solo album Winter Sun the trumpeter conjures up his own imagery through his thought-provoking melodies and application of electronics to produce a distinctively individual soundscape.

Acknowledging the influences and pioneering work of saxophonist John Surman as well as trumpeters Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvaer and Jon Hassell "for his use of space". Howard has curated his own set of compositions that communicate on both an atmospheric and emotional level.

In contrast to Jim Howard's previous release, Beyond The Treeline' in a duo setting with Julia Walkington utilising gongs, hand percussion and singing bowls that was wholly improvised, here Howard works with composed melodic and chordal lines together with improvisation to create the music. The use of electronics, using delays, loopers, echo, harmoniser and distortion, the trumpeter has also employed a layering of textures and multiple trumpet parts in addition to looped ostinatos to create his own ensemble.

An album of solo trumpet pieces sounds like it could be stark and forbidding but in using a variety of sounds and layers of trumpet and flugelhorn parts to form a rich harmonic background Jim Howard has created a beautifully structured album that does not rely on the use of electronics to produce static backdrops.