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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 21 2008 at 01:39

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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:

Mike Westbrook – “London Bridge Is Broken Down”

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!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102540

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 22 2008 at 06:00

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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:

Michael Gibbs – “Just Ahead”

Composer / arranger / bandleader Michael Gibbs was one of the most prominent figures on the burgeoning British Jazz scene at its peak. He performed (as trombonist), composed and arranged music for many ensembles active at the time, in parallel to leading his own band, which is captured here during a residency at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s club in London. The band included the top British Jazz players of the time, most of which played on Michel’s previous two studio recordings: Kenny Wheeler, Henry Lowther, Harry Beckett (trumpet), Chris Pyne, Malcolm Griffiths, Geoff Perkins (trombone), Ray Warleigh, Stan Sulzmann, Alan Skidmore (saxophone), Dave MacRae, John Taylor (piano), Chris Spedding (guitar), Roy Babbington (bass), John Marshall (drums) and Frank Ricotti (vibes & percussion). The music covers a wide range of styles, from the typical atmospheric and moody compositions by Gibbs, to scorching Jazz-Rock Fusion exemplified mostly by Spedding’s lead guitar parts and even Blues. Gibbs pays a tribute to some of his American pioneering colleagues: Gary Burton, Steve Swallow, Carla Bley and Keith Jarrett, whom he befriended during his studies in the US, by including his arrangements of their tunes. Notably Gibbs kept looking across the Atlantic for inspiration, being somewhat different in that respect from most of his British contemporaries, who wanted to emancipate themselves from American influence as much as possible. Nevertheless his unique approach to composition and arrangement was clearly much more advanced than most stuff coming over from America. The raw energy and the virtuosity of the players make this album one of the greatest documents of the era, which remains a timeless masterpiece. A must for British Jazz lovers!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102541

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 23 2008 at 09:11

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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:

Graham Collier – “Down Another Road / Songs For My Father / Mosaics”

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 20th 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!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102542

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 24 2008 at 04:16

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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:

Georgie Fame – “Seventh Son / Going Home”

Contrary to what most people know about singer / songwriter / keyboards player Georgie Fame, his true aspiration was always to sing Jazz. Although he arrived on the British scene in the mid-1960s as a Pop singer, with several singles charting over the years, pretty soon he decided that a Pop idol was the last thing he wanted to be and moved away from the Pop image as fast as he could. By the end of the 1960s Fame was already singing in front of Jazz bands and his self-penned material had a distinctive Jazzy feel. This album includes two of Fame’s LPs recorded in 1969 and 1971 respectively, both great examples of his great sensitivity and musicality. On “Seventh Son” he is supported by a dreamy Jazz band, which includes such illustrious players as Art Themen, Stan Sultzmann (saxophone), Derek Watkins (trumpet), Chris Pyne (trombone), Brian Odgers (bass) and John Marshall (drums), who play some outstanding solos. The album was produce by Fame’s friend Alan Price, another Pop star with Jazz inspirations. On “Going Home” the supporting band is the Keith Mansfield orchestra, another quite jazzy outfit, which played for example behind Maynard Ferguson, when he lived and recorded in Britain at the same period. Although perhaps only marginally Jazz, these two albums are a great example of the openness the music industry was willing to extend towards the artists, who wanted to do “their own thing”, something that lasted for a very brief period of time. Fame’s worm tone and great feel for the music are definitely worth a recollection and this album is a great trip down the memory lane. Probably for people in the autumn years, like myself, but still great fun.

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102543

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 25 2008 at 03:56

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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:

Keith Tippett – “Blueprint”

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.

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102544

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 26 2008 at 04:37

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I close the BGO additions with a great reissue of two 1960s album by vibraphonist Gary Burton:

Gary Burton – “Lofty Fake Anagram / A Genuine Tong Funeral”

Vibraphonist / composer Gary Burton is one of greatest American Jazz musicians, with a long and outstanding career and a massive body of work. He is also one of relatively few American Jazz artists, who can be considered as true originals, embracing the Jazz tradition but at the same time constantly expanding the horizons of the music and exploring the terra incognita of the genre. This album takes us back to the early days of Burton’s musical path, when he was leading probably the most forward-thinking Jazz quartet of the day. Together with guitarist extraordinaire Larry Coryell, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bob Moses, the quartet ventured into some of the earliest examples of Jazz-Rock Fusion, years ahead of their contemporaries. The two original LPs, although both recorded in 1967, are quite different from each other. On “Lofty Fake Anagram” the quartet explores mostly a series of original tunes by Burton and Swallow, with finesse and elegance, but also with fire and passion. On “A Genuine Tong Funeral” Burton combines forces with another great and unorthodox American Jazz representative, pianist / composer Carla Bley. The music is her first full-scale Jazz composition for a band, which she calls a “Dark Opera Without Words”. The “without word” part was to bee soon remedied on her next spectacular project, the first true modern Jazz opera “Escalator Over The Hill”, which included a libretto by Paul Haines. For the recording of this music the quartet was expanded to a small orchestra with Carla Bley on piano, Steve Lacy and the brilliant Argentinean player Gato Barbieri on saxophone, Michael Mantler (Carla’s close partner) on trumpet, Jimmy Knepper on trombone and Howard Johnson on tuba. The music is of course completely unique and unprecedented, with Bley’s masterly usage of orchestration to create moods and sonic vistas, all of it years ahead of its time. Together these two recordings provide a glimpse at the period when American Jazz was still bubbling with creativity and excitement. Brilliant and essential stuff!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102545

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 27 2008 at 06:48

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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:

Mike Osborne – “Shapes”

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.

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102546

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 28 2008 at 02:51

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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 next of these:

Howard Riley / Mario Castronari / Tony Marsh – “Wishing On The Moon”

British pianist / composer Howard Riley is primarily known for his numerous improvised solo piano recordings and duets with fellow improvisers, like Keith Tippett. As one of the greatest pioneers of British / European Improvised Music, he achieved in time a legendary status among his peers and fans alike. In contrast to his solo / duo recording, Riley’s piano trio albums are often reflections of his more lyrical and gentle side, bringing up his Jazz roots. This delightful album is no exception. Supported by two superb musicians, bassist Mario Castronari and drummer Tony Marsh, Riley delivers, what might appear as an almost “conventional” Jazz album. Of course there is nothing conventional about his exceptional improvisational ability or the performances by all three musicians, but the overall effect of the album is more acceptable to a listener, who might find it difficult to face Riley’s “usual” output. Of course some of the pieces on this album are freely improvised and others are melodic, but the album’s immediate “appeal” is magical. This is a great example of masterly performed music, which escapes classification and goes directly to one’s heart. Most warmly recommended, especially to listeners who are not familiar with this great musician and could use this album as an entry point to discover a new world of music.

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102547

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 29 2008 at 03:49

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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 1st album and their newest one. Here comes the first:

Quidam – “Quidam / Rzeka Wspomnien (Limited Edition)”

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 10th 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.

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102548

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 30 2008 at 08:44

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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 1st album and their newest one. Here comes the second:

Quidam – “Alone Together”

7th album by Polish Prog group Quidam and 3rd by the second version of the group with their new lead singer Bartek Kossowicz. It is certain that this is truly the first “proper” album of this version of the band, as they have been searching for a direction for quite a while and although the two previous albums have been more that adequate, this one overshadows them completely. They did finally find their balance, coming back to the beautiful melodies and superb instrumental passages that made the group famous to start with. Bartek is an excellent vocalist and the new material suits his voice perfectly, as he’s much better with the lyrical side of music than the rockier one. The music and performances are brilliant and it’s so good to see them again at their peak, taking back the position at the very top of contemporary Prog, which sadly suffers from stagnation. I’d still prefer if the lyrics were in Polish, but I suppose a band of their caliber just has to go internationally with lyrics in English. At least the lyrics make sense as opposed to the usual blabbering one finds so often on Prog releases. Definitely a major piece of work and a full swing return to good old times – truly great album. A must to every Prog fan!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102549

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 31 2008 at 05:32

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

Gordon Beck – “Once Is Never Enough”

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!

https://www.jazzis.com/shop/default.asp?item=102550

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