“The self-titled album really is a joy. The charts work well, the rhythm section really revels in whatever beat patterns it is executing, and Surman delivers fiery but tightly constructed solos containing immense creative excitement.”
Keith Shadwick, Jazzwise, September 2005 (Recommended reissue of the month)

No.9, Top 10 Reissues of 2005, Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise, December 2005-January 2006

CDSML 8402

Nominated for the 10th Jazz Journalists Awards 2006

“The energy and directness of Warren’s charts make for a notably powerful musical identity of its own….As you’re reading Jazzwise, there’s more than a good chance it’s exactly what you should be listening to. Consider yourself signed up for a copy.”
Keith Shadwick, Jazzwise, September 2005

No.8, Top 10 Reissues of 2005, Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise, December 2005/January 2006

“Tales of the Algonquin is far from just a jazz buff's album; it has a powerful combination of muscular themes, vivid section writing and creative soloing from UK stars including trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, saxophonist Mike Osborne and a full-on Surman himself. This is a significant UK jazz document – but it's a richly colourful piece of large-scale jazz-making first and foremost.”
John Fordham, The Guardian, 8 July 2005 (Four out of five stars)

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“The Septets are very fine indeed. Joe Harriott and Tony Coe solo on ‘Webster’s Mood’, a rich swing tribute. Don Rendell takes the main theme on the waltz ‘Ursula’, with thoughtful contributions from Ian Carr and Coe again.”
Brian Morton, Jazz Review, October/November 2005

“This album contains some genuine delights. Though I’m no fan of poetry and jazz, somehow John Smith’s words and plummy English vowels on ‘Jazz for Five’ and ‘Jazz Nativity’ suit the music so much more than Kerouac or Roxroth ever did. It’s well worth parting with your hard-earned for this one.”
Duncan Heining, Jazzwise, September 2005

No.7, Top 10 Reissues of 2005, Mike Flynn, Jazzwise, December 2005/January 2006

“It sees the composer rework Duke Ellington’s approach into a personal vision comprising poetry, religious music and unusual instrumentation….Black Marigolds is a superb album of unorthodox jazz originals.”
John Fordham, The Guardian, 15 July 2005

“An intriguing glimpse of an accomplished artist reaching out across disciplines.”
Clive Davis, The Times Sunday Supplement, 2005

CDSML 8411

“This is music of charm and vitality….‘Anthem’ manages to pull together a choir, free-blowing horns and jazzy Purcell with aplomb.”
Tim Dorset, Jazz Review, April/May 2006

“‘Sweet and Sugary Candy and ‘Fairies of Oneiros’, with an appropriately puckish solo from Garrick, have a joy to them that’s quite affecting and the performances always, but always, suggest a band having fun. ‘Little Girl’ is a charming ballad with fabulous alto from Harriott and beautiful arco bass from Goode. One to enjoy.”
Duncan Heining, Jazzwise, March 2006

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Pianist-composer Michael Garrick makes his fourth and fifth appearance in Vocalion’s CDSML series during February 2006, with more of his thoughtful, sometimes esoteric but always unique brand of jazz. CDSML 8415 features Cold Mountain, his 1972 trio recording for Decca’s Argo subsidiary, and consists of seven original Garrick compositions including the exquisite First Born. Garrick receives brilliant support from double bassist Dave Green and drummer Trevor Tomkins who, incidentally, is the cousin of British jazz piano legend Roy Budd.

“Vocalion continue to dig deeper into the British jazz archives with more essential releases….Featuring a sublime version of ‘Prayer’ alongside the joyful ‘First Born’ and the epic ‘Cold Mountain’, Garrick’s only trio album is further proof that as a pianist and composer this lyrical Englishman stood shoulder to shoulder with titans like Ellington and Bill Evans.”
Andy Thomas, Straight No Chaser Magazine, Spring/Summer 2006

“Cold Mountain is a fine trio album from pianist-composer Michael Garrick. His small group compositions are among the finest anywhere, rich in melody and ringing with feeling. Perhaps the piano trio is Garrick’s natural environment. And when the rhythm section is as fine as that on offer here, he positively glows.”
Duncan Heining, Jazzwise, May 2006

“Whether it be the instinctive interplay between the trio, or the exceptional recording quality and mastering, one cannot but conclude that we have before us an album that has all the qualities of a long neglected masterpiece.”
Tim Stenhouse, Manchester Evening News, 31 March 2006

CDSML 8415

The 1970s was an exciting decade for music in Britain, a time of innovation and experimentation, a time when musical genres as diverse as jazz, rock, classical and pop met to form a fascinating hybrid. More often than not this musical hybrid came to be known under the ‘progressive’ banner, and the effects of this fusion of disparate elements are still being digested more than three decades later. The 1970s was also a time when major UK record companies were prepared to give some of Britain’s finest and most forward-thinking young arrangers/composers free reign in recording studios, enabling them to explore this blend of styles. On occasion, such creative freedom gave birth to groundbreaking recordings, and Nick Ingman’s 1976 Terminator LP, re-issued for the very first time, is a case in point.

CDSML 8423

Although marked as "Out of Stock", we have very low stock levels of this title. If you wish to purchase a copy (in some cases the only copy), either

telephone: (in UK) (01923) 803 001 or (outside the UK) +44 1923 803 001

or, email: orders@duttonvocalion.co.uk

telling us which CD you wish to buy. We will process the order immediately.
Normal postage and packing charges apply.

Please quote catalogue no. CDSML8423

"... first-time-on-CD reissues of important folk albums from the catalogue of the Decca-group label Argo."
"... this well-remastered – and very welcome – reissue."
David Kidman, Net Rhythms Reviews

CDSML 8424

"Barbara’s special qualities as a singer have always been a care in phrasing allied to a glorious tone, and a wholly natural empathy for every song she chooses to sing. Hearing these LPs again after a long interval just reinforces those qualities. Remastering of both [albums] is excellent too, by the way."
David Kidman, Net Rhythms Reviews

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This CD features Michael Garrick’s 1971 Argo album Mr Smith’s Apocalypse. Recorded under the name of Garrick’s Fairground (conducted by Peter Mound), it is a jazz cantata with music by Garrick and words by poet and Garrick collaborator John Smith. Alongside the pianist, this compelling work features the Somerford Junior School Choir conducted by Mary Tickner, and the instrumental prowess of Don Rendell and Art Themen (saxes, reeds), Norma Winstone (voice), Coleridge Goode (double bass) and Henry Lowther (trumpet, flugelhorn). Also included is Garrick Fairground’s rare, two-track 1971 Epiphany Argo EP, featuring the same line-up as Mr Smith’s Apocalypse, except that Dave Green (double bass) replaces Coleridge Goode.

"Michael Garrick - born in 1933 - is a peculiar character of English music who undoubtedly should be better known and appreciated by a larger segment of record-consuming population. His compositional attitude shows both admiration for traditions and the urge of trying new solutions in settings and orchestrations that mix lots of different ideas and influences. This probably derives from being self-taught (hey - the best talents own gifts, did you ever notice that?) and, in fact, he was once expelled by a piano lesson for inserting a quote from "In the mood" during a pupils' exhibition. The main feature Garrick is remembered for, though, is the fusion of jazz and poetry, of which this CD - reissuing an LP from 1971 - is a great example. The basic concept underlying poet John Smith's writings is that "god never seems to listen, never intervenes when most desperately needed and prayed to" (this was then; one wonders what Mr. Smith would have written today). The leader, who plays organ throughout, adapted the lyrics to the score in such a fashion that the outcome, a so called "jazz cantata", sounds like a cross of twisted excerpts from musicals - "Jesus Christ Superstar" to "Tommy", to name a couple that sprang to mind - enhanced by strange intervallic designs and harmonically complicated passages nearing the whole to the most intricate progressive rock. The principal vocalists are Norma Winstone, George Murcell and Betty Mulcahy besides Smith himself; the band comprises Henry Lowther (trumpet, flugelhorn), Don Rendell and Art Themen (tenor & soprano saxes, clarinet, flute), Coleridge Goode (double bass), Trevor Tompkins (percussion). Eccentric, abnormal music that requires attention in large doses and repays it in full. The reissue is completed by two tracks, "Epiphany" and "Blessed are the peacemakers", that came out in the same year on an EP, then disappeared; the latter in particular is a splendid song, somehow recalling the work of Christian and Stella Vander in Magma and Offering, a reinforcement of my suggestion to get a copy of this forgotten gem. Bizarre, yet so interesting"
Massimo Ricci, www.touchingextremes.org, February 2008

CDSML 8435

Indian-born composer-producer Biddu was one of the key figures on Britain ’s disco and soul scenes during the mid-late 1970s. Arriving in the UK in 1968 having already established himself as a singer in his homeland, his first job was as a songwriter with producer Denny Cordell’s company. Shortly afterwards Biddu graduated to producing a variety of UK soul artistes and bands including The Outriders and Jimmy James. His breakthrough came in 1974 when he produced the smash-hit single Kung Fu Fighting for singer Carl Douglas. From there the successes just kept coming, with Biddu producing No.1 singles for artistes such as Tina Charles (I Love to Love) as well as notching up Top Twenty chart entries under his own name, which included his disco cover of Michel Legrand’s Summer of ’42.

Between 1975 and 1978 Biddu recorded four albums for CBS with his own orchestra, and two of them are compiled on this Vocalion release. Biddu’s so-called ‘Orchestra’ was, in reality, made up of some of the UK ’s leading session musicians, all of whom he used almost exclusively on his own projects and when he was producing other artistes. They included keyboardist-arrangers Gerry Shury and Mike Moran, guitarists Chris Rae and Pip Williams, drummers Chris Karan and Barry De Souza, percussionist Frank Ricotti and bass guitarists Frank McDonald and Alan Jones. 1978’s Futuristic Journey finds Biddu and his musicians laying down some irresistibly funky disco grooves on tracks such as Futuristic Journey, Blacker the Berry (Sweeter the Juice) and the excellent disco cover of Francis Lai’s theme from the film A Man and a Woman. Biddu also incorporates the sound of the sitar, which works especially well in the spacey, hypnotic grooves of Unfinished Journey and Eastern Journey.

In 1977’s Eastern Man the emphasis is shifted towards soul music, allowing Biddu to display his vocal skills on several tracks. The album opens with a funky, soulful cover of Neil Diamond’s Girl You’ll be a Woman Soon, with an impassioned lead vocal from Biddu. Spring features a Barry White-esque Biddu vocal, as does Changing World, while disco rhythms are represented by the bump and grind of Funky Tropical, King Kong and Boogiethon. Both albums serve as a compelling reminder of the disco age, not to mention Biddu’s talents as singer, songwriter, composer and producer.

Remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes.

Turn Circle is the debut album of the quartet led by guitarist and composer Ray Russell. Recorded in 1968 for CBS’s ‘Realm Jazz’ series and arguably Ray’s finest jazz album, it mixes compositions by such notable figures as Wayne Shorter (Footprints) and Charles Lloyd (Sombrero Sam) with Ray Russell originals. The best known of these is the suite in three movements A Day in the Working Life of a Slave of Lower Egypt. This remarkable work blends modal writing and free collective improvisation to stunning effect while showcasing the individual talents in the quartet, which are Roy Fry (piano), Ron Mathewson (double bass) and Alan Rushton (drums).

"As Oliver Lomax points out in his liner notes to this reissue of guitarist Ray Russell's first CBS album (recorded in 1968), distortion and feedback, wah-wah and other special effects were everywhere being applied to guitar playing at the time, courtesy of Jimi Hendrix et al., but Russell (mostly) eschews them. As those who've witnessed his recent gigs at the Vortex will know, Russell can provide some of the sharpest, neatest runs you're likely to hear, his articulation clean and fleet, his musical imagination always fertile. On this album, he's joined by one of the UK 's most accomplished and versatile bassists, Ron Mathewson, sometime Graham Bond drummer Alan Rushton and pianist Roy Fry, but the focus is very much on Russell, both as absorbing soloist and composer, providing as he does all but two of the album's pieces. The opener, Wayne Shorter's classic 'Footprints', sets the tone: although it starts in 6/8, it shifts almost imperceptibly into 4/4 during Russell's solo, imbuing the whole with a highly effective rhythmic ambiguity. Such understated subtlety is the band's hallmark, whether they're musing through the odd ballad ('Bonita'), indulging in bouts of free improvisation during the propulsively vigorous original 'Peruvian Triangle', or easing their way through Charles Lloyd's relatively straightforward 'Sombrero Sam'. Concluding with a richly varied three-piece suite, 'A Day in the Working Life of a Slave of Lower Egypt', which touches all the above bases, this is a fascinating glimpse of a fine musician launching himself, apparently already fully formed, on a career that would later see him perform with the likes of Mike Gibbs, Ian Carr and Gil Evans, not to mention composing for TV ('Bergerac', 'A Bit of a Do' etc.) and playing with touring outfits such as the Four Tops and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band."
Chris Parker, vortexjazz.co.uk, Winter 2007

CDSML 8436

Singer Elaine Delmar’s 1968 CBS album Sneakin’ Up On You. Elaine, who is long-established as one of Britain’s finest singers of jazz and popular music, performs a wide variety of material on this beautiful album ranging from modern popular songs to jazz and bossa novas, as well as some of the less well-known songs from musicals and shows. Among the delights on offer are the slow-burning, funky big band grooves of Sneakin’ Up On You, the lush bossa nova rhythms of Jobim’s Come for a Dream and Elaine’s sophisticated jazz interpretation of the Mary Hopkins hit Those Were the Days.

CDSML 8437

Johnny Keating’s name was legendary within big band and jazz circles in both the UK and America during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Through his association with the Decca Record Company and many of its artistes – most notably the Ted Heath Orchestra for whom he was chief arranger from 1954-1971 – Keating’s remarkable gifts as a composer-arranger became world-renowned. His lengthy career has seen him active in many different areas of music including scoring films; however, only three motion pictures feature his work. His score for the 1967 UK crime-thriller film Robbery is arguably his best, and is the subject of this Vocalion release.

Based on the Great Train Robbery of 1963, Robbery stars Stanley Baker as hardened criminal and ex-convict Paul Clifton, who’s determined to pull-off the biggest job of his career – robbing the overnight mail train from Glasgow to London . Keating’s brilliant score underlines and heightens the drama, suspense and action, especially during the tense opening sequence (Diamond Robbery). The score is composed in the modern big band style, but also features some gorgeous, tender underscores as heard in Kate’s Theme (for Paul Clifton’s wife, played by Joanna Pettet) and Robinson – Portrait of a Loser (for currency expert Robinson, played by Frank Finlay). Passing the Mail Bags, Breaking into the Mail Van and Gang’s Arrest are tension-filled big band scores, while Born to Lose (not heard in the film) sung by session vocalist Jackie Lee is as good an example of bright, optimistic big band pop as you could wish to hear. If you haven’t seen Robbery, listening to John ny Keating’s gripping score will certainly make you want to.

Remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes.

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