Compiled by Colin Harper and Jon Harrington, with an introductory essay by Duncan Heining and notes on the selections by Lois Wilson, this 3 CD, 48 track compendium of British (well, mainly English) jazz and jazz-rock is – as collections like this go – an absolute belter.

There’s no real overarching theme other than what it says on the tin and as Heining’s intro makes a point of saying, the music creates its own narrative: you just have to listen to it. On that basis a very few relative duds or departures from the fragile subjectivity of one’s own personal taste are more than made up for by a high proportion of absolute gems. These include obscurities that must have required real crate-digging – check Wynder K. Frog‘s boogaloo-flavoured “Harpsichord Shuffle”, or music biz all-rounder John Cameron‘s “Troublemaker” – as well as classics of the period like Harold McNair‘s “The Hipster”. If there’s anything you don’t like – and warning, there’s a fair bit of flute – don’t worry, another will be along in three minutes.

But what is really impressive is how good most the selections sound, how various their methods and stylistic models, and how well they fit together through sequential listening. The opening track, “Storm Warning” by the Dick Morrissey Quartet (written by the cult composer and big band leader Harry South, who plays piano) sets a formidable example, being no less swinging than Horace Silver. That it’s followed by Davy Graham‘s great guitar and tabla version of ‘Watermelon Man’ shows how knowledgeably broad a sweep the compilers are taking. As well as the expected Rendell/Carr, Garrick, Hayes and Harriott, we also get into the R&B groove with Graham Bond‘s version of Wade in the Water, a U.S. B-side no less, and Georgie Fame on another B-side. ‘A Greeting’ by the Westbrook Concert Band, from 1967’s Celebration album on Deram, which I didn’t know, already sounds like the work of a master.

The second CD has a fabulous first half with a very congruent run of Graham Collier, John McLaughlin (from Extrapolation), Rendell/Carr (again) to the New Jazz Orchestra, Mike Gibbs and Kenny Wheeler with Dankworth, before we move more into jazz-rock territory with the likes of Keef Hartley, Colosseum, Nucleus and Brian Auger’s Trinity. Whatever the setting, it’s all interesting. The selections are chosen with flair and there are enough obscurities to satisfy all but the most demanding collectors, who may justifiably moan about the lack of full personnel details.

The third CD edges us a little further into prog territory, with Auger’s Oblivion, If and a very free interlude by Chris Spedding but overall retains the catholicity of the previous discs. It includes relatively avant-garde offerings by John Surman‘s trio with Stu Martin and Barre Phillips, McLaughlin (whom Colin Harper has written a book about) with Surman, Holland et al, plus the near operatic mash-up of Garrick’s Fairground with Norma Winstone, and Mike Osborne‘s ‘So it Goes’, which concludes the compilation. Halfway through we also get the wonderful track that gives the box-set its title: Julie Driscoll‘s A New Awakening , from her solo album 1969.

As compilations go, this is a class act whose constituent parts offer enough sufficiently interesting material for a solid month’s listening, and more.

from https://ukjazznews.com