| Following the success of Vocalion's Alan Skidmore 'Once Upon a Time and John Surman other issues, comprises the superb 'Jazz in Britain ’68-’69'. This album, recorded during the sessions that yielded Skidmore’s 'Once Upon a Time' LP, paired Surman, Skidmore and drummer Tony Oxley with a stellar cast of British jazz musicians in a set of complex and beautiful original compositions. The band is wonderfully cohesive, and the loose-yet-disciplined playing/soloing of such giants as Kenny Wheeler, Mike Osborne and Harry Beckett - not to mention Surman, Skidmore and Oxley - gives the music a completely organic and natural feel, as only musicians like these can produce.
John Surman's Jazz in Britain 68-69 is an overview disc of his '60s band and one of the more enjoyable vintage British jazz records to come down the pipe in a while. These tunes are not the same ones that appeared on earlier albums or compilations. Vocalion has released these five tracks of vanguard European jazz with the hope that since some of these cuts are not well-known it will appeal to collectors of the material. These tunes come from a number of different sessions, as evidenced by the alternate drummers -- Alan Jackson and Tony Oxley -- and the use of different instrumentation, like the three-horn modal piece "Bouquet Garni," from 1968 that places Surman in the company of only two other horn players (Alan Skidmore and Mike Osborne) and no rhythm section. For most of the other tracks, actually, Oxley is the drummer, Kenny Wheeler plays flugelhorn, and John Taylor plays piano (acoustic and electric). The music here is all over the place stylistically, but it hardly matters because all the players are fully engaged, and as an ensemble, they all shine and were seemingly looking forward to the impact the new jazz would have. A fine sounding, well-presented compilation by Vocalion and Decca. |
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