Unnatural Events is pianist and composer Tom Millar’s debut release on the innovative new label Spark, which he is set to showcase in Cardiff next month.

The original music, inspired by places and people important to Millar, features his long-standing quartet - Misha Mullov-Abbado on bass, Alex Munk on guitar and Dave Storey on drums.

“I was looking for musicians who would be musically supportive and versatile, with a deep understanding of what I expect to bring my compositions to life. It was such a pleasure to have them all in the studio with me,” says Millar.

Munk’s soaring guitar sound complements Millar’s piano playing perfectly, and both are able to stretch out over the rhythm section’s emphatic grooves.

The title track is a groove tune based around the key of E minor, written whilst listening to Jan Garbarek’s album Afric Pepperbird. “It was kind of my take on this music, but of course ends up being very different,” explains Millar.

Singer/songwriter Alice Zawadzki joins the quartet for two tracks on the album, Choro and Inversnaid, the latter based on a poem by Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

The album also includes the soulful ballad Park Hill; rock-out anthems in The Seafarer, Power Chord Thing and Woad; and Azura Days, a composition inspired by a trip around the Mediterranean.

Millar plays Cafe Jazz in Cardiff on August 5.