Live from Second Line is the first release (as a vinyl) by the Glasgow-based Second Line Records, an independent record shop specializing in classic and contemporary jazz. It features a live recording from August 2025 of Australian tenor sax player Rob Burke with three old friends and founding members of the local Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra: alto sax player Raymond MacDonald (who recorded with Burke before), guitarist George Burt, and double bass player Una MacGlone.
This ad-hoc quartet played four pieces, reflecting gentle, respectful, romantic, and highly melodic collective conversations, informed by Burke’s strong lyrical voice. Burt’s «Love & Kisses» opens the album with Burke and MacDonald complementing each other’s melodic ideas, while Burt and MacGlone suggest a light, seductive pulse. MacDonald’s «Our Voices are Butter» has an uplifting vibe of a New Orleansian march, highlighting the deep affinity of Burke and MacDonald and their respect for the jazz legacy, and MacDonald commented about this performance: «Friendships that lie at the heart of this record».
The second side begins with Hector Villa-Lobos’ classic «The Little Train of the Caipira» (from the suite Bachianas brasileiras No. 2), using its sensual, dance-like groove for a collective exploration of its beautiful melody. The performance ends with MacDonald’s «Noises from the Roof», revolving around an emphatic, playful sax dialogue and cementing the deep friendship of all four musicians, but, finally allowing more degrees of freedom.
Eyal Hareuveni
Rob Burke (tenor saxophone), Raymond MacDonald (alto saxophone), George Burt (guitar), Una MacGlone (double bass)
