Remembering guitarist Amancio D'Silva on his birthday

Raising a glass to guitar virtuoso Amancio D'Silva with a few recordings you may have missed. 

Richard Morton Jack publishes Labyrinth, the definitive guide to 60s British jazz

Labyrinth: British Jazz On Record, 1960-75 comes packed with reviews of 300 UK jazz gems penned by Richard Morton Jack

Here's the scoop...

Labyrinth is a massive hardback book, 375 pages in length, printed on high-quality art paper, with an embossed cover and cloth quarter-binding, written by Richard Morton Jack (Psychedelia: 101 Iconic Underground Rock Albums, Nick Drake: The Life, The Sunbeam Guide To Led Zeppelin). This limited edition record guide is the most comprehensive overview of the subject ever published. It celebrates over three hundred albums, offering detailed background info about each, alongside excerpts from original reviews and masses of high-quality images that reproduce their fabulous artwork and labels at near-full size. It also features a fascinating introduction by Tony Reeves (Mike Taylor Quartet, New Jazz Orchestra, Colosseum etc). 

Covering abstract jazz, avant-garde jazz, serial jazz, free jazz, Indo-jazz, jazz-rock and more, it tells a story Britain should be proud of: open-minded and creative musicians pushing the boundaries of their art in the face of penury and indifference, and welcoming influences from a range of other cultures via immigrant musicians such as Joe Harriott (Jamaica), Amancio D’Silva (India), Guy Warren (Ghana) and Harry Beckett (Barbados). Get a copy via Soundohm right here. Check out Ritchie Unterberger's interview with Richard Morton Jack right here. 

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott!

Remembering saxophone great Joe Harriott on his birthday with a couple of his fantastic Indo-jazz explorations. 

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott!

Remembering saxophone great Joe Harriott on his birthday with a few typically stellar performances. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Amancio D'Silva

Here are a few amazing recordings from Indian jazz guitar great Amancio D'Silva, a couple featuring saxophonist Joe Harriott. 

 

Happy Birthday Stan Tracey!

Remembering legendary British jazz pianist and bandleader Stan Tracey on his birthday with a couple of stellar performances. 

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott

Remembering saxophone great Joe Harriott with a live clip of "In A Sentimental Mood" and a couple of other gems. 

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott!

Remembering the great Joe Harriott with his performance of "In A Sentimental Mood" and an audio documentary. 

Happy Birthday Shake Keane!

Remembering St. Vincent-born musician and poet Ellsworth McGranahan "Shake" Keane with a couple of stellar performances. 

New British jazz anthology documents Soho Scene '59-'60

Soho Scene '59-'60: Jazz Goes Mod
This 4CD set (w/ 24 page booklet) pits Britain's finest jazz tracks of 1959-1960 up against the very best music coming out of the States at the same time, showing that British modernists could at last stand tall among jazz music's giants. Out November 30 on CD with vinyl version slated for 2019. Check out Wilton "Bogey" Gaynair's "Wilton's Mood," Joe Harriott's version of "Señor Blues" and The Jazz Couriers' swingin' "In Salah" below.





Track listing: 
Disc 1: British Jazz 1959
Wilton Gaynair - Wilton's Mood, Eddie Thompson Trio - Mine Still, London Jazz Quartet - London Lament, Jack Parnell & His Orchestra - The Golden Striker, Tommy Watt Quartet - Embargo On Escargot, Joe Harriott Quintet - Señor Blues, Vic Lewis & His All Stars - Beaulieu Blues, The Jazzmakers - The Real Funky Blues, Tommy Whittle Quintet - New Horizons, Dizzy Reece & The Jazz Couriers - Blues In Trinity, Pete Pitterson Quintet - The Willow, Stan Tracey - We'll Call You, Johnny Dankworth Orchestra - Dauphine Blues, Jazz Inc - Jamba, Vic Ash Quintet - Cobwebs, The Jazz Couriers - In Salah, Tubby Hayes Quartet - Blue Hayes, Kenny Baker - Too Cool For The Blues, The M.J.6 - Tracy's Theme…
Disc 2: Jazz USA 1959
Art Blakey & The Afro Cuban Boys - No Hay Problema, Harold Land All Stars - Blowin' The Blues, Barney Kessel - Night Cry, The Mastersounds - Golden Earrings, Charlie Mingus - Boogie Stop Shuffle, Horace Silver - Sister Sadie, Jimmy Smith - The Sermon, Bobby Timmons - This Here, Ray Bryant Combo - Little Susie (Pt. 2 & Pt. 4), Mr. Billy Paul - Go To Hell, Gerry Mulligan - As Catch Can, John Coltrane - Naima, Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Grand Central, Bill Doggett - Backwards, Oscar Brown Jr - Three Squares & A Bunk, Googie Rene - Caesar's Pad, Bo Rhambo - Two For The Blues, Herbie Alpert & His Quartet - Viper's Blues, Harvey Anderson - Monday Night At 8pm, Mr. Lee - Mr. Lee's Plea….
Disc 3: British Jazz 1960
Harry South Big Band - Southern Horizons, Tony Crombie Orchestra - Samba De Janeiro, Ernest Ranglin Trio - One For Picka, Dill Jones Trio - Threesome, The New Jazzmakers - I'm Gonna Go Fishin', John Dankworth Orchestra - Treasure Drive, Vic Lewis & His All Stars - Little Darlin', London Jazz Quartet - Mirage, Joe Harriott Quintet - Tuesday Morning Swing, The Jazz Five - Still Life, Victor Feldman Quintet - All Blue, Wilton Gaynair/Shake Keane Quintet - Kingston by Pass, Dizzy Reece - The Rebound, The Jazz Couriers - Too Close For Comfort, The Jazzmakers - The Moonbather, Tubby Hayes Quartet - St. Vitus Dance, Little John Anthony - Midnite Jump, Big Doll - Swingin Preacher, Ken Jones & His Orchestra - Bluesville…
Disc 4: Jazz USA 1960
Oscar Brown Jr. - But I Was Cool, Lenny McBrowne - Saudi, Helyne Stewart & Teddy Edwards Septet - Why Don't You Do Right, Nat Adderley, Wes Montgomery - Sack of Woe, Quincy Jones - G'wan Train, International All Stars - African Dance, Larry 'Wild' Wrice - Husky, Maxcine Dixon & Dorothy Ashby Trio - Double Talkin', Armando Peraza Trio - Triste, Lee Morgan - Terrible "T", Billy Higgins - Me and My Lover, Sunny Harris & The Three Orbits - Sad Sacks, Lionel Hampton - Wailin', Rune Overman Trio - Funky Festival, Herman Foster - Herman's Blues, Larry Young - Young Blues, Jimmy Smith - Back At The Chicken Shack, Ram Ramirez - Twist This, Ernie Andrews - West Coast Blues, Willis Jackson - Cool Grits

Whaddya mean you don't know The Jazz Stars

The Jazz Stars were UK greats Joe Harriott, Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell, Ronnie Ross, Allan Ganley, Terry Shannon & Lennie Bush.

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott

Remembering the great saxophonist with a couple of stellar performances for Argo. 

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott

Remembering saxophonist Joe Harriott on his day with a few tracks from Hum Dono available again on vinyl. 

Remembering Joe Harriott on his day

Happy Birthday Joe Harriott!

Joe Harriott & Tubby Hayes: Two Aces

Saxophone blasting beacons of British jazz, alto ace Joe Harriott and tenor titan Tubby Hayes recorded far too few studio sessions as leaders in their tragically short lives – both of which  coincidentally ended in 1973 with Harriott dying of cancer at 44 and Hayes five months later while undergoing heart surgery at just 38 – so the recent surfacing of brilliant live recordings by each at their peak from the BBC's Jazz For Moderns transcription series is cause for celebration.
When Harriott turned up at St. Hilda's Studios in Maida Vaile back in 1962, it was in the company of his classic quintet with Shake Keane (trumpet, flugelhorn), Coleridge Goode (bass), Pat Smythe (piano) and replacing Phil Seaman, the great Bobby Orr (the drummer, not the celebrated Bruins defenceman) who had recorded the fantastic Abstract album a few months earlier which would deservedly receive a glowing five-star review in Down Beat from my pal Harvey Pekar, the first-ever British jazz recording to be so honoured.

As Pekar astutely noted, there were significant conceptual differences between Harriott's "free form" approach and that of Ornette Coleman, the most obvious being that Harriott was pursuing a true group improvisation where each member was playing off the others whereas Coleman was still tethered to the steady pulse of a bebop-style rhythm section. And that comes across on the Joe Harriott Quintet's Jazz For Moderns (Gearbox) LP, primarily with the tracks Pictures and Tonal, the two Harriott compositions drawn from Abstract, which are nicely contrasted by the inclusion of their takes of Dizzy Reece hard bop thrillers Shepherd's Serenade (from 1958's Blues In Trinity) and Variations on Monk (from 1959's Star Bright).
Since Harriott's other important recordings from the period, 1963's Movement and 1964's High Spirits along with 1969's Hum Dono (a stellar collaboration with late Goan guitar great Amancio D'Silva) remain frustratingly out of print, Gearbox's limited-run 180 gram vinyl edition of the Jazz For Moderns set is all the more welcome.
Likewise with their simultaneously released Tubby Hayes Band Jazz For Moderns LP finds the hugely talented saxophonist/vibraphonist showing off his compositional chops at St. Hilda's in the company of trumpeters Jimmy Deuchar, Bobby Pratt and Eddie Blair, trombonists Keith Christie and Ken Wray, Alan Civil on French horn, alto saxophonist Johnny Scott, tenor saxophonists Bob Efford and Vic Ash, baritone saxophonist Harry Klein, David Snell on harp, pianist Gordon Beck, bassist Freddy Logan and drummer Allan Ganley.
Serious Tubbs-ophiles will note that that it's the exact same line-up which accompanied Hayes for the BBC Jazz Session set two months prior and they're also playing the same five-song program: Take You're Partners For The Blues, Souriya, Down In The Village, Early Morning Afterthoughts and the gentle Horace Silver ballad Peace (off 1959's Blowin' The Blues Away).

However the performance isn't at all a note-for-note recreation, more like a deeper exploration of now familiar themes which should become clear when you hear the way Hayes gets into his soulful ballad Souriya at the end of the first side. The jazz dance crowd will have their interest piqued by the inclusion of Down In The Village and this swinging version of the Hayes vibes feature doesn't disappoint. The classy sleeve art in period-appropriate designs and informed liner notes (Simon Spillett, who's currently working on a Tubby Hayes biography tentatively titled The Long Shadow Of The Little Giant, contributes a thoughtful and well-researched essay to the Hayes LP) make for better than average reissue packages but evidently Gearbox pressed up only 500 copies of each title on vinyl so it might be wise to visit Dusty Groove (www.dustygroove.com) on the double before they're gone for good. Mind you, they're not cheap but worth every penny.
For further reading on Joe Harriott, check out Alan Robertson's excellent biography Joe Harriott: Fire In His Soul (Northway Books) from 2003 and the Coleridge Goode reminiscence Bass Lines: A Life In Jazz also published by Northway Books in 2002.

Links
Gearbox Records http://gearboxrecords.com
Simon Spillett on Tubby Hayes http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/extra/art.hayes.html
Northway Books http://www.northwaybooks.net/