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Post by jazzhead on Jun 5, 2021 11:02:02 GMT
Just seen this on Amazon: "Journeys In Modern Jazz: Britain A deep dive into the one of most collectable jazz catalogues in the world, a selection of some of the rarest and most sought-after recordings from the '60s and '70s, a time when British jazz began to find its own identity. Drawn from the iconic labels of Decca, Deram, Argo, EMI Columbia/Lansdowne Series, Fontana, Mercury, and Philips." www.amazon.co.uk/Journeys-Modern-Jazz-Britain-VINYL/dp/B08XXZX5WJ/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&qid=1622888448&refinements=p_n_date%3A182239031&rnid=520920&s=music&sr=1-3Info and tracklist via Decca: JOURNEYS IN MODERN JAZZ: BRITAIN DOUBLE CD ALBUM Various £15.99 Delivery from £1.95 Release Date 16 July 2021 2CD Set, hard cover book includes a 20,000 word essay detailing this crucial era of British jazz with track commentaries and artist biographies CD1: 1 Ken Wheeler and the John Dankworth Orchestra | Don The Dreamer 2 Don Rendell Quintet | A Matter Of Time 3 Collin Bates Trio | Brew 4 John Surman, John Warren | With Terry’s Help 5 Michael Garrick Sextet | Second Coming 6 Mike Westbrook Concert Band | Waltz (for Joanna) 7 Stan Tracey And His Big Band | Matinee Days 8 Harry Beckett | Third Road CD 2: 1 Neil Ardley, Ian Carr, Don Rendell | Greek Variations: VI Kriti [edit] 2 The New Jazz Orchestra | Angle 3 Alan Skidmore Quintet | Old San Juan 4 Dick Morrissey Quartet | Storm Warning 5 Mike Taylor Quartet | To Segovia 6 Michael Gibbs | Some Echoes, Some Shadows shop.decca.com/British-Jazz-Explosion/*/JOURNEYS-IN-MODERN-JAZZ-BRITAIN/704A00001K8Vinyl: shop.decca.com/British-Jazz-Explosion/*/JOURNEYS-IN-MODERN-JAZZ-BRITAIN/704C00001K8 |
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Post by Doom Girl on Jun 5, 2021 19:49:34 GMT
There sure is a lot of white guys there. It is what it is.
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Post by gregorythefish on Jun 6, 2021 13:18:47 GMT
You raise a point I've considered before as well, Doom Girl. Is there any reliable data on the ethnic makeup of the larger British population around 1950-1970? A cursory Googling suggests not, but I haven't dug very deep.
I also note the vast disparity in the number of black players on the US east and west coast scenes.
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Post by Doom Girl on Jun 6, 2021 18:53:52 GMT
Yes Gregory, there are many interesting questions to consider.
To state the obvious: Jazz originated in African-American communities and so the presence of African-American musicians or exposure to their music was essential for its spread. Many African-Americans moved from the South to the northeast (New York, Philadelphia) – East Coast Jazz - mid-west (Kansas City, Chicago) and later, at least in great numbers, to points west - West Coast Jazz. Many white people, among others, heard jazz music and enjoyed and were inspired by it and wanted to play it too. Serious questions of cultural appropriation may arise when others take undue credit or profit, but it seems that many white (and other) musicians were sincere in their dedication to the music and also recognized and respected its origins. An extreme but informative and controversial case was described many years ago by “Mezz Mezzrow,” (Milton Mesirow) the Jewish clarinetist from Chicago who idolized Louis Armstrong and “black culture.”
In 2016, New York Review Books published a handsome paperback edition of REALLY THE BLUES by Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, with an introduction by Ben Ratliff.
This new British jazz compilation would be worth hearing but looks not to be “my cup of tea,” although I do have some fine recordings by Kenny Wheeler and John Surman in my collection.
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Post by bassman on Jun 6, 2021 19:08:20 GMT
You raise a point I've considered before as well, Doom Girl. Is there any reliable data on the ethnic makeup of the larger British population around 1950-1970? A cursory Googling suggests not, but I haven't dug very deep. I also note the vast disparity in the number of black players on the US east and west coast scenes. Around 1974, Great Britain had about 1,5 million "coloured" immigrants, out of a total population of 56 million. They came from places where jazz may not have been all that popular, but that's my own (un)educated guess.
The disparity you mention between east/west coast is indeed striking. West coast jazz was not really "black people's music", but there were the notorious exceptions (Curtis Counce, Chico Hamilton ...)
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Post by Martin on Jun 7, 2021 11:17:17 GMT
bassman: my guess is that lot of those 1.5m "coloured" immigrants would have been of SE Asian (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc) or from the Caribbean. So yes, not as likely to be from cultures where jazz was as established as among the US Afro-American community.
Doom Girl: yes, a lot of white people, as you say but, as you also say, it is what it is - that was the make-up of things in the UK back then.
It is perhaps worth noting that these groups were not entirely white and there was a lot of integration on the UK (especially London) jazz scene in the 1960s/early 1970s when most of these recording were made. For example both Joe Harriott and Coleridge Goode played on Garrick's Second Coming and there's Harry Beckett on his own track and a couple of other tunes in this compilation. Other players active on the UK scene include Harold McNair, Shake Keane and Guy Warren. Not many to be sure but all noteworthy.
However, this is a tempting compilation with selections from some scarce and desirable UK jazz LPs like Windmill Tilter, Space Walk, Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe, Flare Up, Greek Variations, Storm Warning, Promises etc. I can see what Decca are doing here: some of the source LPs are probably not viable as commercial re-issues so this is a way to get tracks from them out there plus the comp also serves as a promotional tool for some of the other LPs that look like they have re-issues scheduled.
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Post by jazzhead on Jun 7, 2021 11:32:22 GMT
bassman: my guess is that lot of those 1.5m "coloured" immigrants would have been of SE Asian (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc) or from the Caribbean. So yes, not as likely to be from cultures where jazz was as established as among the US Afro-American community. Doom Girl: yes, a lot of white people, as you say but, as you also say, it is what it is - that was the make-up of things in the UK back then. It is perhaps worth noting that these groups were not entirely white and there was a lot of integration on the UK (especially London) jazz scene in the 1960s/early 1970s when most of these recording were made. For example both Joe Harriott and Coleridge Goode played on Garrick's Second Coming and there's Harry Beckett on his own track and a couple of other tunes in this compilation. Other players active on the UK scene include Harold McNair, Shake Keane and Guy Warren. Not many to be sure but all noteworthy. However, this is a tempting compilation with selections from some scarce and desirable UK jazz LPs like Windmill Tilter, Space Walk, Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe, Flare Up, Greek Variations, Storm Warning, Promises etc. I can see what Decca are doing here: some of the source LPs are probably not viable as commercial re-issues so this is a way to get tracks from them out there plus the comp also serves as a promotional tool for some of the other LPs that look like they have re-issues scheduled. I've spotted two of those albums on Amazon's Jazz Next 90 Days page, Martin. Space Walk and Windmill Tilter are both being reissued: Space Walk www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Walk-VINYL-Rendell-Quintet/dp/B08XXZXR12/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&qid=1623065095&refinements=p_n_date%3A182239031&rnid=520920&s=music&sr=1-14Windmill Tilter www.amazon.co.uk/Windmill-Tilter-Story-Quixote-VINYL/dp/B08XY3559S/ref=sr_1_39?dchild=1&qid=1623065165&refinements=p_n_date%3A182239031&rnid=520920&s=music&sr=1-39Maybe the rest will also get reissues. |
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Post by Martin on Jun 7, 2021 14:30:40 GMT
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Post by alunsevern on Jul 16, 2021 19:34:01 GMT
All good points made about how relatively few black musicians in late-50s to early-70s were involved in ‘British jazz’.
Black musicians were not absent by any means and many of them have been named. But it is also true, surely, that relatively recently arrived migrants, especially from the Caribbean and the West Indies, would have been a tiny minority in what was in any case a minority music — certainly when set aside pop, crooners, rock and roll, skiffle, and even trad and big band jazz, all of which were popular in that roughly twenty year period. What I am trying to say, I suppose, is that this was the case but doesn’t necessarily mean that black musicians were ‘under-represented’ as such…
On a related note, my copy of Don Rendell’s SPACE WALK arrived today. Mastered by the folk at Gearbox, this is I believe — apart from the 2-LP comp - the first in the Decca reissue series. If the companies involved maintain this standard then we are indeed in for some treats. Sound quality, production and overall presentation are all excellent. Superb quality laminated flip back sleeve; impeccable pedigree of period valve technology in the sleeve notes, and the vinyl itself came straight out of the bag spotless and ready for playing. This may seem the least one could ask for but in my experience it is rare (and getting rarer?) for new records to really cleans. I played this one without cleaning on the RCM and it was flawless. The LP itself is good and very enjoyable but I’m not sure it’s a great one. It isn’t of the same calibre as the R a dell-Carr Quintet records, for instance (and even those are a little bit patchy). Still, I need to listen more, obviously.
I thought it interesting to read that the bassist, the Australian Jack Thorncroft (sic) was actually Thorncraft, his name misspelt on the cover. Tony Higgins, who writes the sleeve notes and I think oversees the reissue programme, apparently tracked him down - still playing bass, resident in Australia - and told him of the reissue. Thorncraft was delighted because he had never heard the record.
I know there is an awful lot of shoddy, opportunist, profiteering vinyl around but i never thought we would see a point when almost by default the best reissues are analogue, mastered by the best in the business and pressed at the best plants. It does seem an astonishing resurgence.
The Decca 2-LP comp does look a lovely package but I have been put off because I hardly ever play compilations. I had assumed that the compilation was an old-style ‘sampler’ and that everything on it was scheduled for LP release in the Decca series. Isn’t this the case?
The one I am really eager for is Neil Ardley’s gorgeous Greek Variations. I love Chris Spedding’s jazz guitar — he is a genuinely under-recognised jazz talent of the period.
LATER:
SPACE WALK is growing on me. I think the first track on side one (On the Way) is quite weak but its seamless transition into Antibes is marvellous and that stately, summery but somehow also rather melancholy track is a highlight.
I’m starting to understand the method of the paired horns. I’ve often found paired tenors a bit too much of a good thing and initially I thought that was the case here but the dialogue of the two saxes is often brilliantly done, weaving in and around each other and finishing each other’s lines.
There is an occasional rock tinge as was the awe with quite a bit of British jazz of the period - most evident in A Matter of Time (the track chosen for the comp) - which is co-written by Dave Quincy, a sax player who was a member of the jazz/rock/underground band, IF.
But the defining sound of the record is Peter Shade’s vibes, perhaps most heavily featured in the title track - which to my mind isn’t the strongest thing on the record. There is another slight oddity which I think is probably very much of its time and that is the mix. The paired horns are often quite far back in the mix which somehow gives the overall sound more of a rock record feel than jazz - but that may be my imagination.
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