Category a) Sixties and earlier [0 – 1969]
DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED
After a very creditable British R&B pop album that yielded the hit single “Go Now” The Moody Blues went through some personnel changes and directional realignments that resulted in them being invited by Deram Records to create a rock+orchestra version of Dvorak’s New World Symphony to demonstrate new recording techniques. With full support from producer […]
OUT OF TIME
If you read a straight-ahead description of Time Out by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, it all sounds terribly serious and highbrow. Recollections of Brubeck’s avant-garde compositional inclinations while a student, his work with French composer Darius Milhaud at Mills College, the unexpected pairing of Brubeck’s inventive, meticulous piano playing with the warm, glowing tones of Paul Desmond’s […]
JAZZ NIGHTCAP
The first thing that strikes you about this compilation from the Jazz Dispensary—a subsidiary of the famous Concord label—is the classy packaging. Devoid of any type, the front and rear covers are adorned with retro-style paintings by Liam Cobb evoking an early 60s comic aesthetic. An inky blue late night scene is lit by a […]
THE ART OF MOANIN’
The late 1950s were a fabulously fertile time for jazz and a first pinnacle in the history of the Blue Note record label. The confluence of established stars with emerging players made for a swirling outpouring of creativity that resonated down the decades. One of the major figures of the period (and both before and […]
FLY TOMORROW
Chapter One: A potted history 1963–1967 An ambitious but ultimately doomed attempt to summarise the early days of blues legend John Mayall John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers started playing London’s famous Marquee Club in late 1963. In the following year they released a first single and backed John Lee Hooker on his British tour. In […]
DAVID, STEPHEN AND GRAHAM
On 28th June 1969 the self-titled album by Crosby, Stills & Nash entered the US charts. It reached #6 and stayed around for an impressive 100 weeks. Two singles were released—Nash’s jaunty ‘Marrakesh Express’ and Stills’ extended ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’—both reaching the Top 30. So much for the data. What makes this album so […]
GRANT HIM A LISTEN
Early in the twenty-first century it seemed that, finally, the jazz loving world was starting to pick up on guitarist Grant Green. Hallelujah! His rhythmic playing being neither complicated nor particularly flashy, Green stayed off the radar of casual jazz fans for far too long. Yet he was all over bebop and worked with many […]
BOB BRINGS IT BACK
A few days ago we escaped a summer scorcher by retreating to the coolth of an air-conditioned cinema. The film was James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, the newly released biopic of the early career of Bob Dylan. Featuring a riveting performance by Timothée Chalamet, the film tracks Dylan’s career from his arrival in New York […]
CAPTAIN’S STRANGE VOYAGE
One of the wonderful things about popular music is the way it has splintered into a thousand sparkling threads, like a fireworks display in slow motion. There are more genres, sub-sections, and styles than could be examined in a lifetime… and it all started less than seventy years ago. Yet despite the best efforts of […]
MEETIN’ JIMMY SMITH
Growing up in a musical family, young Jimmy Smith learned piano and later, double bass. When he switched to organ in the mid-1950s after hearing Wild Bill Davis, Jimmy combined the two instrumental skills, utilising the bass pedals of his Hammond B3 to fill out the lower end of his sound. While this made the […]
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