For Immediate Release

Curved Air Announce Plans For New Projects and the Band’s 50th Anniversary Year in 2020

Curved Air was formed in 1970 and ever present original member Sonja Kristina will be continuing to lead the band into the band’s 50th Anniversary year with a range of projects and a world tour.

The band will be recording a new studio album in 2020, along with contributing to the release of a 50th Anniversary Compilation which will include newly recorded tracks, featuring former and current members of the band, recording together in various combinations.

Curved Air will be touring the Americas, Japan, Europe and also appearing on Cruise to the Edge in 2020.

The 50th Anniversary year line-up has also been solidified with Curved Air welcoming back Kirby Gregory to the line-up after a break of 3 years. Kirby was originally in the heyday era line-up which recorded Air Cut in 1973. He returned to the band playing guitar for the recording of the very successful North Star album. Kirby was professionally committed to other projects from the end of 2015 until now, and he is looking forward to embarking on the 50th Anniversary World Tour in 2020.

The current line-up was completed when, after much searching, the band found and welcomed Grzegorz “Greg” Gadziomski to the line-up. Greg is a classically trained Violin player who likes to play in many genres but prefers Progressive Rock/Fusion as a particular passion. The band would like to acknowledge and thank Paul Sax who has decided to retire from touring after a lifelong career. Paul was a member of Curved Air from 2009 and the band wish him much happiness and peace in his retirement.

The accomplishments of the previous line-up and former members were recently showcased with the release of two titles on the band’s own Curved Air Records via Cherry Red: “The Curved Air Family Album” and “Live at Under the Bridge”.

“The Curved Air Family Album” features 26 tracks including rare and unreleased band and solo recordings, including by current and former members which Sonja Kristina described as “How appropriate that many Curved Air members past and present have contributed to a special collection called The Curved Air Family Album for our 50th year. I’m excited about this – it’s so great to hear all the unique sounds, surprising collaborations, eclectic songs and haunting instrumentals including from Francis Monkman, Darryl Way, Stewart Copeland, Kirby Gregory and Robert Norton – they all make for a very enjoyable double album.”

Amazon CD: https://geni.us/CAfamily
iTunes: https://geni.us/CAfamilyiTune
Google Play: https://geni.us/CAfamilyG
Spotify: https://geni.us/CAfamilySpotify

“Live at Under the Bridge” captures the band live playing Air Conditioning in its entirety, with special guests Darryl Way and Ian Eyre, as well as tracks from North Star and other Greatest Hits. Of this release, Sonja Kristina said “The 45th Anniversary of the release of Air Conditioning was a triumph of performance, musicianship, presentation and appreciative reception. Original and current members on stage together – what joy! Robert Norton’s pristine production perfectly captures the sound and energy of our night of celebration.”

Amazon CD: https://geni.us/CAbridge
iTunes: https://geni.us/CAbridgeiTunes
Google Play: https://geni.us/CAbridgeG
Spotify: https://geni.us/CAbridgeSpotify

Curved Air is:
Sonja Kristina
Kirby Gregory
Chris Harris
Robert Norton
Andy Tween
Grzegorz “Greg” Gadziomski

Photo by Howard Rankin

Curved Air is managed by Daniel Earnshaw at QEDG Management daniel@qedg.co.uk

Curved Air Official Website: www.curvedair.com
Curved Air Official Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/CurvedAir
Curved Air Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/curvedair1
Curved Air Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curvedair/

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 1-828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

Curved Air Announces Third Volume of its Ongoing Rarities Series With The Second British Rock Meeting 1972 – OUT NOW!

London – Legendary Prog band Curved Air is pleased to announce the third volume of its ongoing rarities series with The Second British Rock Meeting 1972 – OUT NOW!

The sound quality is of an astonishing fidelity for a live recording from the early 1970s and features the only known recordings of the band improvising!

The last track is an extended jam and a version of the band’s hit “Vivaldi” – lasting well over 30 minutes!

The band had just released its Phantasmagoria album at the time and the line-up was:
Sonja Kristina
Darryl Way
Francis Monkman
Florian Pilkington-Miksa
Mike Wedgwood

The booklet features a written introduction by Francis Monkman, who mastered the audio and curated the release personally, along with two essays written by attendees at the festival and previously unseen pictures.

Francis recalls the concert: “Listening to the recording, I was at first puzzled that we’d decided to start the set with Everdance, especially as I had some kind of hazy memory of waiting in the dank pre-dawn gloom, trying to persuade my fingers to work in preparation for our customary opening with It Happened Today. But the uncertainty of the initial holding pattern rhythm, together with Sonja’s plaintive “what shall we do?” triggered the realisation that we had arrived on stage and plugged in, only to find that the guitar was for some now-long-forgotten reason not working. So we had to decide quickly once it became clear it wasn’t going to be fixed in a hurry. And what you hear is the upshot…”

These recordings capture a unique set from the band’s heyday, their only recorded improvisations and all in unbelievable sound quality for a festival in the early 70s!

1. No-Guitar Blues (3:33)
2. Everdance / Cheetah / Vivaldi (7:40)
3. Phantasmagoria (3:34)
4. Melinda (More or Less) (3:11)
5. Over And Above (11:32)
6. The Germersheim Jam / Vivaldi (31:47)

To Purchase:
Amazon CD: http://geni.us/CRVERS003
iTunes: http://geni.us/CRVERS003dig

Official website: www.curvedair.com
Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/CurvedAir

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

Curved Air Rarities Series Vol. 2 “Curved Space & Infinity” Now Available!

London, UK – “Curved Space & Infinity”, the second volume of the CURVED AIR RARITIES SERIES, is now available! These TWO separate albums, packaged together are a must for fans of the legendary Prog band and instrumental improvisational music!

This instrumental double CD set is the only Curved Air release not to feature lead singer Sonja Kristina, but has been released with her full support and blessing.

The line-up on “Curved Space”, which was previously released as Francis Monkman’s “Jam” but now features two previously unreleased bonus tracks, includes Francis Monkman (guitar), Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums) and Rob Martin (bass).

Francis Monkman commented “I’m pleased that the ‘Jam CD’ has been transmuted into a Curved Space release. An entirely collaborative effort, I was never keen for it to be released in the guise of a solo album, but there seemed to be no viable alternative at the time. Listening to it now, it seems to me to sound as fresh as ever – indeed it was an ideal for some bands in the 1960’s to come as close as possible to jamming all the time, precisely because the process of raw discovery holds elements that simply cannot be reproduced when material has been subjected to rehearsal (usually after dissection into some kind of song format).”

The line-up on “Infinity”, which are all NEW 2016 STUDIO RECORDINGS includes Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums), Kirby Gregory (guitar) and Robert Norton (keys).

Robert Norton said of Infinity “At times we found it hard to believe these compositions were created entirely in the moment and were genuinely surprised and inspired by what emerged from them. The name Infinity encapsulates the spirit of freedom with which the three of us approached the making of this album and the limitless possibilities of creating music in the moment.”

Track listing:
DISC ONE: CURVED SPACE
1. TOWARDS TOMORROW
2. SEA OF TRANQUILLITY
3. BAGHDAD CAFÉ / RETURN TO CALVARY / TOWARDS INFINITY
4. SOL Y SOMBRA
5. HARP RIFF
6. FREE TIBET
7. BLUE YONDER BLUES
8. PLAYIN’ AWAY
9. ROSE

DISC TWO: INFINITY
1. ELEVATION
2. LABYRINTH
3. EXPANSIONS
4. APHELION
5. MEGALITH
6. CELESTIAL DANCE

To purchase Curved Air’s “Curved Space & Infinity”: http://geni.us/CRVERS002

Official Website: http://www.curvedair.com

Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CurvedAir

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

UK Prog Legends Curved Air Release First Volume In Rarities Series “Tapestry Of Propositions” –
OUT NOW!

London, UK – TAPESTRY OF PROPOSITIONS is the first volume of the CURVED AIR RARITIES SERIES! This live album is an HOUR LONG version of the Curved Air song “Propositions” with over a dozen of the improvisations which usually follow now presented together.

Says founding member and lead vocalist Sonja Kristina, “Curved Air has been performing ‘Propositions’ for more than 40 years. The main body of the piece is freeform and every night the band performs a different variation in the moment. This CD is a combination of inspired creation that captures Curved Air flying over the edge.”

This album is a must for fans of the band and improvisational music!

The line-up on this recording is:
Sonja Kristina (lead vocals – tracks 1 and 17 only)
Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums)
Kirby Gregory (guitar)
Chris Harris (bass)
Robert Norton (keys)
Paul Sax (violin)

Curved Air’s “Tapestry Of Propositions” has been painstakingly compiled and produced by Robert Norton.

Released August 5, 2016.

To purchase:
Amazon: http://geni.us/gCiW
iTunes: http://geni.us/x5yiQNr

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

UK Prog Legends Curved Air Featuring Sonja Kristina Release Eagerly Anticipated New CD ‘North Star’

“CURVED AIR, with a real band attitude and a zest for life; this is a band you want to see live for the sheer artistry of how to deliver the musical goods.”- Lee Dorian, Classic Rock

London, UK – Much to the anticipation of press and music fans worldwide, UK progressive rock legends Curved Air, featuring iconic vocalist Sonja Kristina, released a new CD ‘North Star’ via Cherry Red Records on March 17, 2014! ‘North Star’ is the band’s first album featuring new studio material since 1976! The full-length CD features a mixture of re-recordings, cover songs and seven new original compositions, all housed in a lavish digi-pack.

Says Sonja, “I am proud to release into the world Curved Air’s ‘North Star’. The North Star is the fixed point in the sky about which all the stars seen from the Northern Hemisphere rotate. A star linked to the celestial magnetic energies of the North Pole. Following its light, the lost, the wanderer, the explorer and the warrior have been guided throughout time. The North Star helps us know where we are and where we are going. Curved Air’s album ‘North Star’ is born of the musicianship and dedication of this brilliant incarnation of Curved Air – renowned for the audience’s rapturous response to their concerts. The North Star album material reflects on humanity, love, solutions , perspectives and staying human through changing times and revolutions, virtual lives and delicate attractions – love and shamanic sub atomic worlds.”

Curved Air, originally formed in 1969, is a groundbreaking progressive art-rock band renowned for their showmanship. Each member pushed the boundaries of possibilities for rock music performance. Vocalist Sonja Kristina won the hearts of a generation of music lovers and was voted top British Female Vocalist of the 1970’s whilst the three top twenty albums that this lineup released are regarded as classics.

Breaking through from the underground scene into top of the early ’70s album charts, Curved Air’s musicians hailed from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock and fusion with classical elements. Along with High Tide and East of Eden, Curved Air was one of the first rock bands after It’s a Beautiful Day and The United States of America to feature a violin. Considered (according to AllMusic) “one of the most dramatically accomplished of all the bands lumped into Britain’s late-’60s prog explosion, Curved Air released eight studio albums (the first three of which broke the UK Top 20) and had a hit single with ‘Back Street Luv’, which reached number 4 in the UK. Numerous band splits and reformations have occurred since then but the current line-up of Sonja Kristina, Florian Pilkington-Miksa, Chris Harris, Robert Norton and Paul Sax have been together since 2009”. With classic era guitarist Kirby Gregory rejoining the band in 2013.

Curved Air’s music was also described as “’Art Rock’, the quasi classical imprints of Terry Riley hooked onto beautiful and demonic violin combined with electronic adventurous synths and interwoven with brilliant guitar wizardry mesmerisingly embroidered by the subliminal and exotic presence of a unique girl lead singer Sonja Kristina”. Though progressive music pioneers they were hailed as Pop Stars when the sultry “Back Street Luv” was a Top 5 hit in 1971.

Sonja Kristina, who topped the British Music female vocalist polls throughout the ’70s was the first UK female lead singer fronting a Rock band. She has been the constant flame leading Curved Air through the decades. Today, vibrant and edgy as ever, Sonja, the original prog diva gives a charismatic and highly visual performance. Looking like a glamorous gipsy queen with her flowing red hair and dressed in sparkly black, that signature voice is still as smoky and seductive as ever as she spins around the stage around the excellent musicians who are Curved Air. Phil Oakey recently recalled, “When I formed The Human League it was because I was such a huge Sonja Kristina fan and I still am.”

“Sonja Kristina prowls the front of the stage… expertly playing off the energy of all the performers with her.” – Alex Lynham, PROG magazine

All of the players impress. Although only drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa is from the original line-up, Sonja has found some stunning new instrumentalists who immerse the audience in a set of swirling, whirling solos that emphasize moods and nuances and floating waves of sound that act as a counterpoint to Sonja’s dramatic sense of theatricality. Much to the excitement of Curved Air fans, classic-era guitarist Kirby Gregory returns to the fold for ‘North Star’!

Says Sonja, “The performances were created and produced collaboratively by Curved Air with the expressive and intricate touch of the original drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa, and the mighty eloquence of Kirby Gregory (the composer of ‘Purple Speed Queen’ and ‘UHF’), interwoven with the passionate melodic wizardry of violinist Paul Sax, and the atmospheric extemporization and groove of ambient sonic explorer Robert Norton on keyboards. Kirby returns to Curved Air after 35 years and has added his identity and creativity to the sound. His input and presence in the band feels so right to us all as we prepare to bring new Curved Air material to the world stage. Chris Harris on bass earths the music with drive and precision within the moods, motifs and fire of Curved Air – who are – as always – a dynamic creative collective of virtuoso performers.”

Curved Air is: Vocalist Sonja Kristina, Drummer Florian Pilkington Miksa, Guitarist Kirby Gregory, Violinist Paul Sax, Bass Chris Harris and Keyboard Player Robert Norton.

To order Curved Air’s ‘North Star’:
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4549
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/north-star/id843620008

To purchase Curved Air’s “Stay Human” single:
https://itunes.apple.com/ph/album/stay-human-single/id815160384

http://www.curvedair.com
http://www.facebook.com/curvedair
http://www.reverbnation.com/curvedair
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=3894

Curved Air is managed by QEDG Management info@qedg.co.uk

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158 (USA), glassonyonpr@gmail.com