Jazzis Web Shop News 05/2008

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The last May addition is another British Jazz album by one of my favorite musicians – pianist Gordon Beck:

Pianist / composer Gordon Beck is one of the icons of the modern British Jazz and his immense contribution to the scene is invaluable. He first came to prominence as a member of the legendary saxophonist Tubby Hayes quintet and soon after formed his own trio, which was one of the most important ensembles at the time, which recorded some incredibly beautiful albums. Over the years Beck proved to be extremely prolific, recording tens of albums as leader and sidemen and hundreds as a studio musician. A hopeless romantic at heart, his incredibly melodic and lyrical compositions and extraordinary fluency as a player make him one of the finest European Jazz musician. Alongside Michael Garrick he is my favorite British piano player and a source of musical joy for over 40 years now. This, one of his latest albums (recorded when Beck was 71 years old!), recorded with two superb British Jazz veterans saxophonist Stan Sultzmann and bassist Chris Lawrence with a young drummer Paul Clarvis, presents him still at the top of his powers both as a composer and a player. He composed four of the seven tunes on this album with Sultzmann contributing the other three. The music is an incredible example of contemporary Jazz, melodic and beautifully structured, but at the same time full of zest, adventure and sophistication. Those listeners, who are familiar with Beck’s output, will find this a worthy addition to his superb body of work. Those who don’t know him might find this album as a gate into an incredible word of high Art of Jazz. Wholeheartedly recommended!

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I’m happy to add 2 new albums by the phenomenal Polish Prog band Quidam, which are a new edition of their 1^st album and their newest one. Here comes the first:

1st album by the Polish Prog group Quidam, which took the Prog world by surprise when it hit the Western world. In retrospect this is definitely one of the best Prog albums released in the 1990s and surely one of the strongest Prog debuts ever. Quidam has all the elements of a great group: superb writers, excellent instrumentalists and a divine female vocalist with an angelic voice of the caliber of Annie Haslam – Emila Derkowska. The band is deeply rooted in the Prog tradition, especially in the Genesis dramatics, but they take the best of the tradition only as a backbone of their music, developing it far beyond the cliches and building exceptionally well developed and masterly executed songs. The delicate balance between acoustic (flute, viola) and electric (keyboards and guitar) instruments is enchanting and extremely effective. The choice to stick to Polish lyrics is a wise one, as the vocalist certainly can express herself better in her native tongue, rather than use English (as they tried later on). The new 10^th Anniversary edition adds a second CD called “River Of Memories”, which is a collection of previously unreleased material by the group and offshoot projects, all very interesting and worth having. Several video clips are added as well. This is a masterpiece in every respect and every single second of this album is absolutely perfect. No serious Prog collection can be complete without this album.

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Continuing the expansion of British Jazz titles, I add a few more releases on the important FMR Records label. Here is the first of these:

British saxophonist / composer Mike Osborne was one of the greatest representatives of the burgeoning scene in the late 1960s / 1970s and one of the most prominent pioneers of Free Jazz and Improvised Music. His unique alto saxophone sound, exceptional improvisational skill and power and total involvement with the music were unparalleled by any of his contemporaries. Unfortunately his career was severely disrupted by mental illness, which eventually caused his early retirement from active performing. Although Osborne did record often in the 1970s as a sideman with the most prominent ensembles at the time, his output as a leader is sadly limited. Therefore the release of this fabulous album, 23 years after it was recorded and remained forgotten, was a major event not only for his many admirers, but also for the entire British Jazz scene. Especially so when one realizes that this album is in fact the first recording of the fabulous SOS saxophone trio, supported by a rhythm section. Here they are: John Surman, Mike Osborne and Alan Skidmore, three British saxophone giants, with two bass players Harry Miller and Earl Freeman and Louis Moholo on drums. The music is quite overwhelming, mostly free improvised with the three saxophonists playing simultaneously and separately and the rhythm section providing a solid basis cementing the overall result into a beautiful synergy of sounds. This kind of collective improvisation, based on phenomenal and almost telepathic rapport between the musicians is extremely rare and deserves to be heard time and time again. This is an immensely important document of European Jazz and a must for British Jazz enthusiasts.

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It’s time to return to my favorite subject: British Jazz of the late 1960s and 1970s, completing the picture already well represented on my site. A bunch of releases on the BGO label should do the job nicely. Here is the next of these:

Pianist / composer Keith Tippett is one of the pioneers of British Free Jazz and Improvised Music. His work in the late 1960s / 1970s both as a leader and sideman with the leading avant-garde ensembles at the time, includes some the most daring and revolutionary British Jazz achievements. This album was recorded shortly after the gigantic Centipede project, led by Tippett and comprised of over 50 Britain’s leading avant-garde Jazz and Rock musicians recorded their seminal (and only) album “Septober Energy”. In complete contrast, this album is all about intimacy, recorded by five musicians in various formats from duos to quartets. The music is completely improvised, capturing moments of musical exchanges between the musicians with no preconceived clearly defined themes. Tippett’s companions include his wife Julie Tippetts (vocals), who not only changed her name (from Julie Driscoll) but also made an almost complete about face from her previous Pop and Jazz-Rock background, bassist Roy Babbington and two percussionists Frank Perry and Keith Bailey. The album was produced by no other than Robert Fripp, with whom Tippett cooperated on a few King Crimson recordings. The album remains a classic example of early British and European Improvised Music and lost none of its expressionist power over the years. Definitely worth investigating.

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It’s time to return to my favorite subject: British Jazz of the late 1960s and 1970s, completing the picture already well represented on my site. A bunch of releases on the BGO label should do the job nicely. Here is the next of these:

Composer / arranger / bandleader / bassist Graham Collier is one of the Godfathers of modern British Jazz, and his contribution to the genre as a musician, educator and writer are monumental. Although initially schooled in the US (Collier was the first student from the UK to be awarded a scholarship at the Berklee School of Music in Boston in the 1960s), he was in fact one of the pioneers of the European Jazz, accepting the American Jazz tradition as a basis for further development and exploration based on the European cultural heritage. His innovative approach as a composer and arranger were immensely influential not only on the local British scene, but also throughout the entire Europe, especially his usage of irregular meters and time signatures. Over the years Collier composed and recorded a colossal body of work, which includes some of the greatest music of the 20^th Century. This album collects the three albums Collier recorded for the Fontana / Philips labels in 1969 / 1970, following his debut recording on Deram from 1967. He composed all the music presented here (except one tune) and plays bass (something he was to abandon in the future) and the lineups of the three ensembles include some of the greatest players on the British scene at the time: Harry Beckett (trumpet), Stan Sulzmann, Alan Skidmore, Alan Wakeman, Bob Sydor, Tony Roberts (saxophone), Karl Jenkins (oboe), Nick Evans, Derek Wadsworth (trombone), Philip Lee (guitar), John Taylor, Geoff Castle (piano) and John Marshall, John Webb (drums). Many of these players were to become future leaders of course, as Collier’s ensembles served as an excellent breeding ground for young players, similar to what happened on the Blues scene with John Mayall’s ensembles. Collier of often called the Charles Mingus of European Jazz, and the parallels are obvious. The music is of course absolutely stunning, from start to finish, and brilliantly performed. Every moment on this album is just right, brilliant and timeless, which makes it not only a perfect document of the era, but also a piece of music that retains its intrinsic values forever. Absolutely essential!

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It’s time to return to my favorite subject: British Jazz of the late 1960s and 1970s, completing the picture already well represented on my site. A bunch of releases on the BGO label should do the job nicely. Here is the next of these:

The second phase of Mike Westbrook’s illustrious career, which was initiated around mid-1970s and continues to this day, can be characterized by his gradual shift from the big orchestral formats to much more intimate assemblages, centered around himself and his wife Kate Westbrook and including members from a steady core of musicians cooperating with them. Kate’s remarkable voice and even more remarkable personality added several new dimensions to the unique “Westbrook voicing” of musical ideas, which would become their trademark in years to come. Her extraordinary sensitivity, openness and passion for European literature and poetry and her ability to sing in French and German (in addition to English of course), combined with Mike’s sublime talent for composition, enabled them to create a vast body of work, which extends far beyond “music making” per se and transferred gradually into one of the most profound European expressions of Culture. Although deeply rooted in Jazz, their music encompasses many additional musical areas, ranging from cabaret and chanson to contemporary Classical music. Always meticulously researched and perfectly scored, the Westbrook projects are all masterpieces of contemporary Art, way beyond straightforward music creation. One can perhaps trace these tendencies to the Jazz and Poetry amalgamations common in the early 1960s, or even much earlier examples from Classical music, which combined musical ideas with literary sources. Mike and Kate are a complete cultural phenomenon; alas a radically rare one in our times, in complete contrast to most of the “musical“ ventures polluting our ears. The music included on this album is perhaps the most complex and ambitious project the Westbrooks have ever undertaken. Commissioned by the French Festival International de Jazz d’Amiens for the 1987 edition of the festival, it was premiered there and later recorded in Paris. The music is an extended work for two orchestras – Jazz and Symphonic – incorporating texts selected and written by Kate. The music and text were written and assembled over a period of four years (1983-1987) and inspired by the places, which the Westbrooks visited during their intensive touring voyages. The overall idea was to present a picture of Europe at the time, with its immense political, social and cultural complexity, focusing on four European Capitals (London, Prague, Berlin and Vienna) and the French Picardie Region. Westbrook’s Jazz “orchestra” was in fact a nonet, with him on piano, Kate on vocals, Chris Biscoe on saxophones and clarinet, Peter Whyman on saxophones, Graham Russell on trumpet and flugelhorn, Paul Nieman on trombone, Brian Godding on guitar, Steve Cook on bass and Tony Marsh on drums. The Mike Westbrook orchestra and Le Sinfonietta de Picardie were both conducted by Alexandre Myrat. The album was originally released in 1988 on Virgin as a four LP set (three and a half to be exact), but disappeared almost immediately from the shelves. Kudos to BGO for reissuing this masterpiece and exposing this music to new potential listeners, nothing deserves a wider recognition than this cultural treasure. Beyond essential!

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It’s time to return to my favorite subject: British Jazz of the late 1960s and 1970s, completing the picture already well represented on my site. A bunch of releases on the BGO label should do the job nicely. Here is the next of these:

If the 1960s served as a period of establishment of the British Jazz scene, with scores of extremely talented instrumentalists and composers coming to prominence, surely the 1970s marked the “emancipation of British Jazz from American slavery”, a phrase brilliantly defined by British trumpeter / composer / musicologist / writer Ian Carr. One of the distinct heroes and champions of this new path was undoubtedly pianist / composer Mike Westbrook, whose compositions for large Jazz ensembles were the British answer and equivalent to the body of work composed by the great Duke Ellington. “Metropolis” marks a high point in a series of brilliant works composed by Westbrook and recorded by large ensembles comprising of the creme de la creme of British Jazz musicians. Westbrook sublimely expands the Ellingtonian framework with the inclusion of multi-layered sound ambience, group improvisation and Rock rhythms, creating a completely innovative and spectacular musical phenomenon, somewhat comparable to contemporary Classical music, but firmly based in Jazz idioms and traditions. “Metropolis” was recorded by an ensemble, which included 23 musicians, each and every one of which are absolute Masters of their trade, including Westbrook on piano, Mike Osborne, Ray Warleigh, Alan Skidmore, George Khan and John Warren on saxophones, Kenny Wheeler, Harold Beckett and Henry Lowther on trumpets, Malcolm Griffiths and Paul Rutherford on trombone, John Taylor on electric piano, Gary Boyle on guitar, Harry Miller and Chris Laurence on bass, Alan Jackson and John Marshall and drums and the divine Norma Winstone on vocals – more or less the entire core of modern British Jazz. The music is of course magnificent, full of pathos and expression with not a single dull moment from start to finish, and the performances absolutely chilling with one solo chasing another. There are few Jazz albums that come close to this masterpiece and although it is relatively little known by Jazz fans worldwide (as most great music) it is an absolute classic and a must for any serious listener, equivalent to hundreds of other less meaningful albums. Absolutely essential!

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I’m happy to add two releases on a new UK label First Hand Records, owned by Jonathan Mayer, son of the legendary John Mayer. The second is the debut recording by Jonathan’s own group, The Teak Project:

A debut recording by the UK acoustic Jazz-World Fusion trio The Teak Project, consisting of Jonathan Mayer – sitar (son of legendary violinist / composer John Mayer, one of the pioneers of Jazz-World Fusion), Justin Quinn – guitar and Neil Craig – tabla. As the instrumentation suggests, their music is related to Indian music, but not predominantly so. The compositions, contributed by all three members, are well structured and mostly lyrical, using well the delicate balance between the instruments. They explore various ethnic motifs and contemporary musical ideas and the music is obviously performed with joy of exploration. This is not “easy” music, as it requires serious attention, but it is richly rewarding, full of beautiful moments and suitable for repeated listening. Since the sitar is seldom used today as a leading instrument, it’s a pleasure to be able to enjoy the sound of the sitar, especially when it is so well recorded as on this album. These young, but open-minded musicians have a lot to offer us and hopefully they will continue to record more of their splendid music soon. Warmly recommended.

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It’s time to add a few more releases on the great Sunbeam / Fallout labels, which reissue some absolutely most obscure but great gems from the past. Here is the next of these:

1^st album (well not really but more about this later) by UK duo Clark-Hutchinson, or Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson, two multi-instrumentalists and prominent figures on London’s late 1960s Psychedelic and Blues scene. Mick, a superb guitarist, plays also some keyboards and Andy plays anything from drums, percussion, keyboards, flute and saxophone. Listening to this extraordinary album it’s really difficult to believe that two musicians, using rather primitive studio technology available at the time, were able to create such massive and complex sound. But sound aside, the music is what makes this album such an extraordinary experience. Based on modal and Indian music and using the slowly developing raga as a model, they create a most amazing amalgam of Jazz, Psychedelic and World Music, which at the time was revolutionary and pioneering. Hutchinson’s lengthy guitar solos are a prime example of jazzy improvisation and one of the first Jazz-World Fusion attempts, which will be later perfected by John McLaughlin in Shakti. The overall contemplative nature of the music and the imaginative ornamentation by additional (overdubbed) instruments create a mystical atmosphere, which is seldom found on other album. This expanded edition also includes the real first album by Clark-Hutchinson, recorded just a couple of months earlier, but rejected by their record label, which remained unreleased until now. Although based on Blues as a guiding model (both Andy and Mick loved the Blues), it follows much the same “working model” of the two musicians overdubbing several instruments, although a bass player and a drummer were used on these sessions. The resulting album is at least as good as any other UK Blues album recorded at the time by John Mayall, Savoy Brown, etc., with Mick’s scorching guitar solos providing the icing on the cake. With extensive liner notes and great sound quality this is a well-deserved reissue of one of the most groundbreaking musical projects of the late 1960s. A true blast from the past!

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It’s time to add a few more releases on the great Sunbeam / Fallout labels, which reissue some absolutely most obscure but great gems from the past. Here is the next of these:

Only album by the obscure US West Coast Rock group Yellow Hand, which owes its fame to the fact that it includes six songs written by Neil Young and Steven Stills during their Buffalo Springfield days, but never actually recorded by that seminal group. Yellow Hand were a typical late 1960s US band, a sextet fronted by an able lead singer Jerry Tawney, who also wrote the original material that fills the album. Lead guitarist Pat Flynn plays some superb licks throughout the album, and the other band members supply good vocal harmonies. In retrospect the albums is as good as anything recorded at the time and the lack of success that the band met with is totally inexplicable, as it definitely deserves much more recognition, not only as the “extra Buffalo Springfield album” but very much on its own merit. Worth investigating for Classic Rock lovers and a must for Buffalo Springfield fans.

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