2/24/2015

Album of the week: ELTON DEAN'S NiNESENSE - Happy Daze & Oh! For The Edge (UK 1977 / 76)



"HAPPY DAZE", OG 910, Ogun 1977. Reissued on OGCD 032

ELTON DEAN - alto sax & saxello. ALAN SKiDMORE - tenor sax. HARRY BECKETT - trumpet. MARK CHARiG - trumpet, tenor horn. NiCK EVANS - trombone. RADU MALFATTi - trombone. KEiTH TiPPETT - piano. HARRY MiLLER -  bass. LOUiS MOHOLO - drums.

Recorded at Redan Recorders, London on 26 July 1977

&

"OH! FOR THE EDGE", OG 900, Ogun 1976. Reissued on OGCD 032

ELTON DEAN - alto sax & saxello. ALAN SKiDMORE - tenor sax. HARRY BECKETT - trumpet. MARK CHARiG - trumpet, tenor horn. NiCK EVANS - trombone. KEiTH TiPPETT - piano. HARRY MiLLER -  bass. LOUiS MOHOLO - drums.

Recorded live at Grass Roots Jazz Club at the 100 Club, London on 22 March 1976.



Two only albums by Elton Dean's large group, released during its lifetime. Reissued od single CD

2/09/2015

Archival release of Mike Osborne - Dawn on Cuneiform


From Cuneiform Records Press release:

In the history of British jazz, there were few voices as unmistakable as Mike Osborne's alto saxophone, but his story is one of the tragedies of British jazz. Within 15 years of his first recordings, simmering mental illness had taken over and forced him away from his musical compatriots in vibrant London and brought him back to his native Hereford (near the Welsh border), where he lived under care until his death in 2007, his saxophone silent for decades.

But during his career, Osborne was one of British jazz's most versatile players, working with members of the various spheres creating a new indigenous British jazz: the Spontaneous Music Ensemble circle; the crowd around the South African Blue Notes; members of the Canterbury Scene; and the modernists centered on John Surman.

Dawn presents Osborne in both his earliest surviving recording, as a co-leader with Surman of a quartet from 1966, and in 1970 with the first known recordings of his mighty trio with the transplanted South African rhythm team of Harry Miller and Louis Moholo. These unearthed recordings not only fill in important gaps in Osborne's own discography but in the history of British jazz as a whole.


The first six tracks, recorded in 1970, are by his trio, his main vehicle as a leader and featuring his most long-standing partners in Miller and Moholo. The band only made two albums during its lifetime, Bordercrossing and All Night Long. Dawn is significant for presenting the trio years before these sessions and demonstrating that the group's sound, marked by Osborne's tart melodicism, Miller's brawny lines and Moholo's propulsive freedom, was established at the beginning of their partnership.

Listeners will then travel back four years earlier, with four recordings taken from a period when names now famous were just coming out from the shadow of Britain's traditional jazz scene. Osborne, 24, is there in his first recording, Surman, 21, in only his second, supported by Miller and drummer Alan Jackson. This was an era of formal suits and allegiance to the innovations in American jazz happening on labels like Blue Note and ESP-Disk', reflected in the performances and the material.

In all, there is well over an hour of excellent quality, previously unheard and unreleased recordings here, as well as a 12 page booklet with informative liner notes and many previously unseen photos. This is an important document historically, but even more importantly, it's really great music.

Dawn was released 03 February 2015



Mike Osborne : alto sax
Harry Miller : double bass
Louis Moholo : drums [1-6]
Alan Jackson : drums [7-10]
John Surman : baritone sax, soprano sax [7-10]

Tracks 1-3 were recorded in London, UK, August 1970.
Tracks 4-6 were recorded in London, UK, December 1970.
Tracks 7-10 were recorded at Regent Sound, London, UK on June 9, 1966 by Eddie Kramer.

© 2015 Louise Palmer
(p) 2015 Cuneiform Records

Cuneiform blog with info on actual releases

2/04/2015

Album of the week: TOM RAiNEY - Obligato (2o14)



Ralph Alessi: trumpet
Ingrid Laubrock: saxophones
Kris Davis: piano
Drew Gress: bass
Tom Rainey: drums

Label Intakt Records [CD 227]
Released 2014
Recorded February 28, 2013, Systems Two, Brooklyn


2/03/2015

Pavel Hrubý releases his first solo album


End of 2014 saw release of  Between The Lines, first solo album by saxophonist Pavel Hrubý, leader of the group Limbo and member of various other groupings. Set of eleven tracks includes Hrubý on tenor, alto & soprano sax, bassclarinet and clarinet. Three solo spots are mixed with mostly duo tracks, where leader's partners are his Limbo colleagues František Kučera (flugelhorn, trumpet and little percussions), Miloš Dvořáček (percussions), Michal Nejtek (piano) plus Vertigo drummer Dano Šoltis. Final track, Peter Gabriel's Don't Give Up, arranged by Štěpánka Balcarová, is played by small chamber-like ensemble. Album was recorded during previous two years and released by Amplion Records as first title after re-activation of the label. So hopely there is more to come.



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