CHRIS MCGREGOR — Eclipse at Dawn (review)

CHRIS MCGREGOR — Eclipse at Dawn album cover Live album · 2008 · Progressive Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
A posthumous live release, Eclipse At Dawn is much in the tradition of the excellent Cuneiform label it was issued on: indeed, one of the label’s speciality was to find British jazz scene artistes’ radio and TV broadcasts recorded throughout Germany and sometimes elsewhere, be this for Surman, Soft Machine, Brotherhood Of Breath and more. In the present case, the label has issued two different broadcasts or concerts, this one from Nov 71 in Berlin, the other (Travelling Somewhere) dating from January 73 in Bremen. The amazing thing about such a big band is that the line-up remained really constant throughout the 70’s, with only a few minor and temporary changes. As pianist Chris McGregor is a South African, his group also featured a nucleus of SA expats, like drummer Moholo, bassist Miller, trumpeter Mongezi Feza (actually absent from the present gig), and saxman Dudu Pukwana. The British contingent included London-scene stalwarts and mainstays such as Charig, Griffiths, Evans, Beckett, Osborne, Windo, Skidmore and accompanying club-owner (and non-sax player that night) Ronnie Scott doing the introduction and outroduction.

A typical early 70’s BoB set list only included a few tracks taken from their studio albums, like Nick Tete, The Bride, Do It, while the rest were being concert-standards that only saw a release their sole live Willisau album of the times. And even those album-linked tracks were not always close to the studio version as can be seen with The Bride (extended to 15-mins) or Tete (over 8-mins instead of 6), but they’re still easily recognizable. Actually, the overall live-feel thing is much less dissonant and free than the present concert, although there are passages nearing the chaotic, especially in the ending section of the numbers played of the aptly-named Restless.

Closing the set is the goofy Funky Boots March, a piece that dissolves into Ronnie Scott’s closing comments. Well, should you own only one BoB album, you might as well choose one of the two live Cuneiform albums, which tend to represent the band best, and feature a full set. But if McGregor’s adventures on the London jazz scene are unavoidable, I wouldn’t certify you that his works is really essential to traditional or casual jazz fans, but avant-garde heads will certainly think so.

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