A New Awakening is a box set that documents, in a UK context, how jazz found a new vital relevance and a widening audience, as it embraced the creative possibilities of adding rock, blues and folk influences.

Release date: Available now

Label: Strawberry Records/Cherry Red Records

Format: 3 CD Box Set

BACKGROUND

This three CD box set documents a time, in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s, when jazz was colliding with rock, folk and blues music. In a context of societal change, and movements and protests coalescing around the hope for a better world, the musical freedom that was enabled through this dissolving of musical boundaries and fault lines, made perfect sense. Duncan Heining, in his introductory essay contained in the accompanying booklet, articulates this very well:

“Suffice it to say that these tracks define a desire to be creative in ways that went far beyond the expectations of the worlds of business and commerce of the music and entertainment industries. And, I think, that manifested a yearning that many of us felt to be creative in our own lives and how we lived.”

In this review we will highlight some of the tracks across the three CDs that give a real flavour of this cross-genre creativity. 

CD ONE

CD one is opened by the Dick Morrissey Quartet’s Storm Warning, penned by the quartet’s pianist Harry South. Saxophonist/flautist Dick Morrissey went on to be one of the founding members of jazz rock outfit IF, but more about them later. Storm Warning, which is played in a hard bop style of jazz, has a funky rhythm and blues attack led by drummer Phil Seamen, over which Dick Morrissey solos very expressively on tenor sax. Harry South and bassist Phil Bates add their own solos, which are by turns spiky and melodic, and rumbling and atmospheric. A great opener from the year 1966.

Jumping to The Graham Bond Organisation’s Wade In The Water, also from 1966. We have previously referred to Graham Bond, in our review of the Eyes Of Blue set, The Light We See . Eyes Of Blue were a pioneering progressive rock band, and Graham Bond wrote a number of songs that appeared on their albums.

ROCK WORLD CROSSOVER

This is indicative of how this highly talented jazz and blues musician crossed over into the rock world. Moreover, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, who later went on to form Cream with Eric Clapton, were members of The Graham Bond Organisation, though only Ginger Baker is present on Wade In The Water. Graham Bond played both keyboards and saxophone and was also a vocalist. On this track he is featured on Hammond organ, with an exhilarating rock music approach to his playing, driven by Ginger Baker’s intense drumming. Graham Bond was a big influence on Jon Lord from Deep Purple, and on this track you can see why.

The Mike Taylor Trio are represented by the track Two Autumns from the 1967 album Trio. Mike Taylor was a very talented pianist and composer who made just two albums before tragically dying in 1969. A number of his compositions, written with Ginger Baker, were recorded by Cream, and on this track, he is accompanied by Jack Bruce on double bass and Jon Hiseman (who went on to form jazz rock band Colosseum, more of them later) on drums. Mike Taylor’s piano playing is an absolute delight, where dazzling melodic runs are contrasted with disssonant sequences. The trio explodes into a rock like energy in the final part of the piece. A great track and a great lost talent.

The Mike Westbrook Concert Band provide a piece called A Greeting, from the 1967 album, Celebration. Mike Westbrook is one of our most important composers and orchestrators across any musical genre, not just in jazz. As well as being a very accomplished pianist. He is a band leader who knows how to encourage the very best playing out of fellow musicians. On this track, a wistful dream like introduction, leads into an intoxicating swing rhythm, over which trombonist Malcolm Griffiths and trumpeter Dave Holdsworth add transcendent solos, that offer both beauty and abstraction.

100 CLUB MEMORIES

I was very privileged, back in the mists of time, to see Mike Westbrook perform at the iconic 100 Club in London, the birth place of punk and host to many rock, jazz and blues greats. It is a very intimate setting and if I recall correctly, selections from the The Westbrook Blake (Bright As Fire) were played, where Mike Westbrook created the most wonderful of musical settings for the poetry of William Blake. As a first experience of the power of live jazz, it was quite something.

PIONEERING

The Pentangle’s instrumental track In Time, from the 1968 Sweet Child album, represents a completely perfect merging of folk, jazz and blues. The great Danny Thompson’s double bass magically dances out of the speakers, as Terry Cox’s drums lay down the sparkling syncopated rhythm. Weaving through this are John Renbourn and Bert Jansch’s duelling guitar phrases, taking in blues and jazz stylings. A pioneering band, whose influence in widening the scope and ambition of contemporary folk music, was and continues to be very significant. Recommended if you would like to hear more of Pentangle, is the Cherry Red Records release Reunions: Live & BBC Sessions 1982 – 2011, reviewed here.

Spooky Tooth, formed in 1967, were a band perhaps more in the rock mould, though on this 1968 single B side Luger’s Groove, they show more of a strong jazz influence, with a groove that is solidly soul jazz. The forward motion of the percussion and rolling piano, and the sharp Hammond organ interjections, create a musical atmosphere similar to Traffic, when they stretched out instrumentally. With the added ingredient of Luther Grosvenor’s edgy rock guitar phrases, this track makes for an apt transition into CD two.

CD TWO

Heading straight to the third track in, John McLaughlin’s Binky’s Beam, from the 1969 album Extrapolation. In a tribute to jazz bassist Binky McKenzie, one can hear the seeds of the inspirational incendiary guitar playing John McLaughlin would later employ in the jazz fusion based Mahavishnu Orchestra, that brought together jazz and rock in such an inventive way. On Binky’s Beam, Brian Odgers double bass and Tony Oxley’s drums set the tone with a controlled tension, which John McLaughlin infuses with intricate, contemplative guitar phrases that build in intensity. John Surman matches this with his earthy yet lyrical saxophone lines.

The New Jazz Orchestra were led by pianist, composer and arranger Neil Ardley. His work Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, released in 1976, demonstrated what a fusing of jazz, rock and folk based music could achieve in a large-scale work. Particularly in the live version, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows: Live’ 75 released in 2021, by Jazz in Britain, where the soloists really take flight. On Angle, a track from the 1969 album Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe, we are treated to a leading-edge slice of orchestrated jazz, that travels through melody to discordant textures. It is wonderfully impressionistic and a real treat to find in this set.

RAUCOUS

Michael Gibbs piece, Some Echoes, Some Shadows (For John Dankworth), from the 1970 self-titled album, is in part a raucous composition, featuring both Jack Bruce and unusually guitarist Chris Spedding on bass, where the bass playing is almost doom metal in tone, in its down tuned approach. Ray Russell shoots out some squalling lead guitar and very heavy riffs. Add in the full brass and woodwind arrangement behind them and you have an intriguing piece of music that will stop you in your tracks. In reality though, as described by Michael Gibbs in his original liner notes, it is two pieces that they always played together. The first being Some Echoes, and the second piece being Some Shadows, where Some Shadows in complete contrast, is a mellow bossa nova influenced shuffle, featuring an effusive flugelhorn solo by Kenny Wheeler.

Colosseum were highly influential in establishing jazz rock in the UK. Those About To Die is taken from their 1969 debut album, Those Who Are About to Die Salute You. This particular track also points to a progressive rock strand to their music with the frequent time signature changes. The frenetic pace of Dave Greenslade’s Hammond organ and Jon Hiseman’s powerhouse drumming give the track an edgy excitement. Dick Heckstall-Smith is in fine form on saxophone combining stridency and sweet-sounding harmonies. When Dave Greenslade hits overdrive on his Hammond organ solo one is impulsively drawn to turning up the dial on the volume. 

A SIGNIFICANT PRESENCE

Nucleus were similarly a significant presence in the development of jazz rock in the UK. The band were established by trumpeter Ian Carr. Elastic Rock, taken from their 1970 debut album of the same name, has a ballad-like structure and features some fine ethereal guitar work from Chris Spedding. The horns play the central theme quite beautifully in ensemble fashion, and John Marshall’s drumming is an absolute joy in its measured subtlety and intricacy.

Brian Auger & The Trinity provide a cover of Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage from their 1970 album Befour. The band create a very atmospheric and romantic take on this jazz standard that fully brings out the wonderful musicality of the piece. Both Brian Auger’s melody driven organ work and Gary Boyle’s ringing guitar sounds contribute to this exceptional interpretation.

CD THREE

So, to the final CD, which interestingly commences with another Brian Auger track. This time it is Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, with the track Dragon Song written by John McLaughlin, taken from the band’s 1971 self titled debut album. This is a much heavier, progressive rock led piece of music. Brian Auger’s stabbing organ riff and wild solo has the perfect foil in Jim Mullen’s heavy rock styled guitar contributions. 

AMBITIOUS PROGRESSIVE JAZZ

The Trio, which featured saxophonist John Surman alongside Barre Phillips on bass and Stu Martin on drums, played a very ambitious form of progressive jazz. With Joachim from their 1970 self-titled debut, we hear the three very gifted muscians creating abstract musical sketches that are driven by mood and curiosity, all the while anchored by Barre Phillips’ walking bass lines. There is a real sense of intimacy created on this recording, where it almost feels like you are in the studio with the musicians.

A New Awakening, by Julie Driscoll, from her album titled 1969, albeit released in 1971, is a jewel of a track. Firstly, the soundstage is just incredible. Chris Spedding’s explosive guitar work comes out of the left-hand speaker, the complex horn arrangement dominates the right hand speaker, and placed in the middle of the soundstage is Julie Driscoll’s powerful and timeless vocal and acoustic guitar. The song perceptively captures the mix of optimism and uncertainty of that time, represented in the thirst for change articulated through a myriad of social movements. Julie Driscoll’s vocal is both poignant and eloquent and enables the complex mix of emotions to flow beautifully from the song and arrangement. 

MINING NEW MUSICAL GROUND

Garrick’s Fairground with Norma Winstone on the 1971 single Epiphany are mining new musical ground with a jazz sextet working with a chorus and the superb improvised driven and poetical vocals of Norma Winstone. It’s choral jazz combining with jazz rock and somewhat strangely with a finely attuned sense of classic pop music. It is like nothing else to be heard across this box set and is completely outstanding. In the same vein, there is something very distinctive about the band IF and the 1971 track Seldom Seen Sam from the album If 3. With a distinctive flute melody, a blues rock rhythm section, jazz interjections from the piano and horns, and J.W. Hodkinson’s pop styled vocal, it has its own quirky and interesting style.  

Concluding the set is alto saxophonist Mike Osborne with So It Is (edit) from his 1970 album Outback. Mike Osborne featured in the Mike Westbrook Concert Band and here he really extends out with some inspired playing that is both stridently assertive and in equal part gentle and melodious. His band match the wildly ambitious playing, creating a sense of joyous cacophony. My only reservation here, is that the track is an edit, and fades out well short of its twenty-four minutes plus original playing length.

JAZZ REACHES OUT – A CONCLUDING REFLECTION

The second half of the 1960s, and the beginning of the 1970s, saw jazz finding a new and vital relevance, and a widening audience, as it enthusiastically embraced the creative possibilities to be explored, by adding into the mix, rock, blues and folk influences. It was very much a two-way process between the various genres, and its impact on the UK music scene is very well documented in this box set. There is much to discover, enjoy, and explore here, with some inspired musicianship, and to the fore an undoubted musical courage in breaking new ground. 

The presentation of the set, with a striking artwork design by Michael Robson, Duncan Heining’s compelling introductory essay, and informative track notes by Lois Wilson, is outstanding. 

You can find out more about Cherry Red Records releases here: Cherry Red Records / Cherry Red Records Facebook

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