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Brian Smith
Trevor Tomkins' Sextant: For Future Reference
by Chris May
A 2-CD collection of four sessions recorded for BBC Radio between 1980 and 1983, For Future Reference is a snapshot, just one of many snapshots that might be taken, of British jazz in the period immediately before the so-called jazz boom" of the mid to late 1980s. That boom was marked by an acknowledgement of the dancefloor, the greater visibility of musicians with roots in the African diaspora, and a willingness, even eagerness, by those musicians to publicly affirm the ...
read moreKarl Jenkins: Penumbra II
by Chris May
Multi-instrumentalist Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) is a successful composer of classical, film and TV music. But before he went over to the Dark Side, the then plain old Karl Jenkins was a member of the Rebel Alliance and a pivotal presence in British jazz rock. He was a founding member of the pioneering Nucleus in 1969 and a member of Soft Machine from 1972 until the early 1980s.
read moreNucleus: Nucleus Live at the BBC
by Maurizio Comandini
Dio salvi la regina. E la BBC. L'emittente di stato britannica ha capito fin da subito che da quelle belle energie musicali, che spuntavano come l'erba di Hyde Park sotto al tiepido sole di quelle latitudini, passavano le scelte esistenziali e culturali delle nuove generazioni e sin dagli anni sessanta ha dato ampio spazio alla musica, premiando non solo il pop ma anche le proposte più articolate e di nicchia e ha conservato in archivio una buona parte di quelle ...
read moreIan Carr: Solar Session
by Chris May
One of the first European jazz bandleaders to embrace synthesizers, bass guitars and other electric instruments, trumpeter, composer and author Ian Carr forged a singularly British style of jazz-rock with his band Nucleus, which he formed in 1969 and with which he recorded a dozen albums through the 1970s. Carr had previously paid extensive dues in acoustic jazz, most notably as co-leader with saxophonist Don Rendell of the highly regarded, culturally inclusive Rendell-Carr Quintet from 1964 to 1969.
read moreNeil Ardley: Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows Live '75
by Chris May
One of the more obscure but loftiest masterpieces of British jazz, composer Neil Ardley's long-form suite Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows was released on the tiny Gull Records label in 1976. Its beauty and vitality have remained absolutely unsullied by the passing years and the album has been reissued a couple of times, most recently on Dusk Fire in 2005. In March 2021, the album has been joined by a previously unreleased live recording made at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall a year ...
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