The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Nights In / Neil Ardley & The New Jazz Orchestra: On The Radio – BBC Sessions 1971

Neil Ardley & The New Jazz Orchestra: On The Radio – BBC Sessions 1971

by 43 Comments

What does it sound like?:

Interest declared – Market Square Music/Dusk Fire-meister Peter Muir is a pal, but I don’t think I’ve reviewed any of the label’s output here before and he has never asked me to. So, enough of the caveats… Peter has reissued, on his Dusk Fire imprint, three of the late Brit jazz composer/bandleader Neil Ardley’s legendary late 60s/70s albums thus far (‘Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe’, ‘A Symphony of Amaranths’ and ‘Keleidescope of Rainbows’) plus the first-time release for the live set ‘Camden ’70’. Three of those four were with the New Jazz Orchestra, an occasional ensemble featuring a wealth of great British jazz and jazz-rock players, and this new release – combining two half-hour BBC broadcasts from 1971, with excellent sound – is another gem, hitherto unreleased and containing several compositions hitherto unreleased in any form.

The first broadcast is of a concert recorded at the Camden Theatre and interspersed with witty introductions by Humphrey Lyttelton. Most of the players involved will sell this record to people even half-interested in the era without another word from me – trumpeters Harry Beckett, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, saxophonists Don Rendell, Barbara Thompson, Dave Gelly, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Frank Ricotti on vibes, Mike Gibbs on trombone, Jeff Clyne on bass, and three further then-current members of Colosseum (along with Dick H-S) in Dave Greenslade (keys), Dave Clempson (guitar) and Jon Hiseman (drums).

The opening numbers, George Russell’s slinky ‘Stratusphunk’ and Mike Gibbs’ joyous ‘Tanglewood ’63’ (recorded commercially by both Gibbs and Colosseum by then), get things off to a barnstorming start, and were in the same set positions for the Orchestra’s Camden Festival set in 1970 (as heard on the ‘Camden ’70’ CD, though here in perfect sound). My personal preference is for small group arrangements of ‘Stratusphunk’, but this one does the job. The next two pieces will delight Brit jazz buffs, being arrangements of two of the late (even then) outsider genius Mike Taylor’s pieces, ‘Half Blue’ and ‘Pendulum’. The latter would be recorded in a studio by Ardley’s crew for the projected 1973 album ‘Mike Taylor Remembered’, although that would not be released until the Dusk Fire edition in 2007. The pieces are full of nuances, quirks and fascination.

The final two pieces in the concert were, as far as I know, not otherwise recorded by anyone – neither their composers nor the NJO: Barbara Thompson’s ‘Terre De Miel’ and (occasional member) Jack Bruce’s ‘The Immortal Ninth’.

As terrific as the concert is, though, I think the real find for this release is the September 1971 studio session, for ‘Jazz In Britain’ (presented by a rather austere-sounding Brian Priestly) of a single long piece, ‘The Time Flowers’, never otherwise recorded and, as the excellent Dave Gelly’s notes explain, only performed once in a concert version by the NJO. This is some kind of masterpiece. On paper it sounds ghastly – the BBC string section plus one Keith Winter on electronic sounds and five jazzers, including the avant-garde musician Barry Guy (then a member of the Howard Riley Trio among others). The other jazzers are Ardley (MD), Ian Carr (trumpet/flugel), Don Rendell (tenor and alto), and Frank Ricotti (vibes).

somehow, Ardley created a dreamy, slightly dislocating but evolving, absorbing piece of music where the constituent parts seem to work perfectly together. At times the written string parts reminded me of Vaughan Williams but mostly of Arvo Part, the minimalist Estonian composer, whose string music somehow manages to be be both warm and icy, melancholy and uplifting. The brass solists, otherworldly vibes and electronics all add to the journey. I thought more than once of Alice in Wonderland when listening, here and there the Howard Riley Trio, and here and there moments of Jethro Tull’s ‘Warchilds’, with the singular mix of strings and saxophone. While other jazz-based free improv artists around this time were creating very austere, cold avant-garde music, this piece manages to move around the edges of that soundworld with the pastoral clothing of tonality. It keeps pulling one back for repeated listens – and it’s beautifully recorded.

What does it all *mean*?

It means that I apologise immediately to Vulpes Vulpes if I have conmpelled him to make another purchase!

Goes well with…

I’ve no idea. It works equally well as background or foreground music.

Release Date:

Might suit people who like…

Ian Carr’s Nucleus (especially, with ‘The Time Flowers’, Carr’s ‘Northumbrian Sketches’), the early Mike Gibbs albums, other Neil Ardley albums…

3

Comments

  2. Don’t know about Vulpes Vulpes but you’re having quite an impact on my wallet, with this and the Mike Westbrook 1972 release!
    Interesting that the second concert involves electronics. I’ve got a recording on DVD from 1981 of Barbara Thompson and Neil Ardley on a short-lived BBC series called ‘A Little Night Music’ where Ardley makes extensive use of synths and other electronic keyboards.

  3. 1. I never realised that Dave Gelly, one of the Guardian’s jazz critics, used to the in the New Jazz Orchestra. How interesting.

    2. Barbara Thompson. Isn’t she married to to some drummer chap?
    [checks on google] Aha, Yes! Jon Hiseman out of Colosseum. I knew it.

    3. Cheers for the review, Colin. Sounds good!

    • Duco has asked exactly the same question. As a mere toe-dipper into jazzy waters, I find his guardian and observer reviews a good pointer toward my tastes. I used to have Kaleidoscope of Rainbows, taped from B’ham Library, a stash of stuff I wish I still had. Hey ho….

  5. Colin, it occurs to me that you might know, or know someone who might know, the answer to a question that has always intrigued me …

    Mike Taylor’s quartet was the support act for Ornette Coleman at the Fairfield Halls in (I think) ’64. Ornette Coleman’s set was recorded, but was Mike Taylor’s and if so do the tapes still exist?

    • I’m afraid I can’t help you, Dwight – my instinct would be that just because the headliner was recorded there’s no reason, in that era, the support act would have been. For instance, Taste supported Cream at their Albert Hall farewell shows in 1968 but Tony Palmer filmed nothing of their sets.

      In contrast, when Columbia went to a three-act billing in Cleveland, Ohio in April 1972 to record a possible live album with headliners West, Bruce & Laing they opted to record the opening act, who were also signed top the label – the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The WB&L live thing, as far as I know, was never issued – neither was the MO set, but it remains an astounding document (the Columbia mix circulating as a bootleg) of their live act during their first few 12 months.

  8. There’s an interesting album by Neil Ardley on Spotify. It’s from the KPM soundtrack label and called Mediterranean Intrigue. Never come across it before but has that clearly identifiable Neil Ardley sound plus soloists that, to these ears, include Ian Carr and Barbara Thompson.

    • Thanks for the tip, JJ. I’m giving it a preview listen right now. The knd of gem that I would never have stumbled across.

      And thanks for the excellent review, Colin, You’ve definitely whetted my appetite. And Dejeuner is on Spotify so I’m in for a feast!

  10. I will look out for this. As an impoverished teenager in the early 70s I kept a notebook in which I wrote down albums I heard tracks from on Peel and Bob Harris shows but could never afford at the time. One such was A Symphony Of Amaranths which I finally got on CD a couple of years back. I like it very much and also got A Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows recently. There are strong melodies in Neil Ardley’s work, which suits my taste very well. I’m not really a big jazz fan to be honest but I like these records a lot.

    • Hi Artery,
      You’ll probably like Neil Ardley’s “Greek Variations”, too, which he made with Ian Carr and Don Rendell. Probably not too easy to find on CD nowadays, though.

      • Thanks duco. Will look it out. I got Japanese import CDs of Amaranths and Kaleidoscope from our local Oxfam in Coventry. They have a whole section for Jap imports there. They are apparently all donated by the same guy. Lots of jazz plus more arcane rock stuff like Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Man and Pete Atkin. Weirdly, they have all been “home laminated” – really a quality sticky back plastic job, even down to every page of the booklets sometimes. Sounds awful doesn’t it, but it really isn’t as it has been done with utmost care and precision so looks really neat. The only problem is occasionally the booklet will no longer fit back in the cover.

        It sounds like an OCD collector of some means who travels to Japan with work doesn’t it? However, complete collections of the same albums, all “laminated”, are repeatedly donated. I have seen the Ayers and Atkins series there several times. It’s really quite strange. And why does he buy all this stuff, laminate it meticulously, donate them all and then repeat the whole process with the same albums? Why not just keep them in the first place???

        • What a wonderful tale, Artery. DuCool, who is a big Atkin fan, will doubtless be over to sample Mr Laminate’s work. He certainly has very good taste.

          Been listening to the NJO albums and I can imagine that Peter Muir is feeling extremely chuffed about releasing them.

          • No. I have bought all the Kevin Ayers and Pete Atkin laminates and they have come back into stock again. It is truly weird. I was in there today and Ayers and Atkin have reappeared…

            • It’s either a case of “I’ve got an idiosyncratic taste in music and a laminator and I’m gonna use it!” or he’s bought a job lot of pre-laminated copies from some kind of Weird Music Study Centre.

              • I love your reasoning Mike and the first bit gave me a good chuckle.

                But if there is a Weird Music Study Centre, ( an idea which sounds very appealing), surely there must be somebody here who has studied there?

                Own up!

                What? Nobody?

                I get the feeling that this is the Silence of the Laminators.

      • Here you go! Sounds very promising.

        I agree with you Artery about the melodiousness of Ardley’s music. It makes it very appealing. Not too much honking either. The lack of 8-minute sweaty, sax squawk-outs is very appealing.

        Excellent review here of A Symphony of Amaranths

        https://www.tinymixtapes.com/delorean/neil-ardley-a-symphony-of-amaranths

        Well I never! Ivor Cutler guested on one of the tracks! Very fine it is too!

        The Dong with the Luminous Nose

        • I think the focus on melodic content is what differentiates both Mike Gibbs and Neil Ardley’s big bands from that of Mike Westbrook in the same period. Much as I love a lot of Mike’s ouevre, he had a tendency of letting individuals squawk and burble their free improv in the middle of his recordings. I find his second album ‘Release’ very annoying in that respect. I get that it was a big deal at the time for Ellington-esque concert band music to suddenly include freak-outs in the middle, but i think in the cold light of recorded music it’s wearying. For some reason, when people soloed in Gibbs and Ardley’s material it was never at right angles to the composition – and yet it hardly felt bland either.

          • Colin, you are a man who likes to live dangerously!

            “Much as I love a lot of Mike’s ouevre, he had a tendency of letting individuals squawk and burble their free improv in the middle of his recordings. …I get that it was a big deal at the time for Ellington-esque concert band music to suddenly include freak-outs in the middle, but i think in the cold light of recorded music it’s wearying.”

            Much though I agree with you, you simply can’t write things like this. The Squawk Squad will be swooping down on this thread in a jiffy. Don’t you know that it is the inalienable right of a jazzer to honk, squawk, shriek and be cacophonous whenever their mojo starts to tingle?

            Mike Gibbs was a new name for me. Time for a listen.

            The Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra

            In the public interest – With Gary Burton

  16. Bought Kaleidoscope of Rainbows back in 1976 on the strength of the reviews it was getting. Daring, original, groundbreaking. Just played the album, it is quite good actually, played by Nucleus et al, but it hasn’t aged well and is hamstrung by too much high concept and way too much po-facedness. It cruises between light jazzrock and almost-ECM chilliness, more Mike Oldfield than Carla Bley Band, in fact, let’s say Carla without the wooziness and humour. And soul.

    Problem is, Ardley has composed a suite based on a Balinese 5-note Pelog scale (C sharp, D, E, G sharp, and A) which he “toyed with endlessly (his words)” to produce this work. You can hear the effort involved, sometimes he even hits upon acceptable “tunes”. Downside is it’s a bit desiccated and even crabbed, becoming wearisome over the course of an album (the scale). Or over the course of 47 years. Sounds like jazz, isn’t. There used to be a chap composing incidental music for a TV show called Thriller and also The Avengers back in the day, bit like him.

    He was a bit of a Renaissance man, wasn’t he, jazz and composing being just one aspect of his repertoire, He was also into these new-fangled synthesizer thingys and KOR brings to mind Who’s Next, from 1971. Apparently, there’s a planets album where he assigns musical notes to the Spheres, viz

    “I noticed that the orbit of Pluto, 248 years, was almost exactly a thousand times longer than that of Mercury, which is 88 days long.
    Then I realised that the relation between one and the other was the same as between the upper and lower limits of human hearing, which goes from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. So with the help of a pocket calculator I worked out this rather brooding , mysterious chord: B flat, E flat, B flat, E, G sharp, E, D sharp, C, E.”
    Quoted, with typo, from an Interview with Karl Dallas, MM, Feb 10, 1979.

    I don’t own this album. Also reminded me of Ray Davies’ recent interview in Mojo where he described his art school thinking, something like, I can’t compose unless everything’s bound up in a big story. Ellington was never like that.

    I do realise this reads very critically on Ardley, I’m surprising myself how little I enjoyed the record even though, well, you know the rest. Your OP though, Colin, mentions Arvo Part, himself no great lover of blackness or jazz or humour in music, but what a great man.

    Note to self: let’s not discount anything.

    • Thanks for your comments, Declan. I warm to KoR rather more than you seem to but I think you make some valid points. Perhaps the man was a better arranger than composer? On Greek Variations, for example, he has folk melodies as a starting point rather than taking a theoretical approach and the result is, to my ears at least, more satisfying.

      I think his work as an arranger on Mike Taylor Remembered is phenomenal.

  17. Interesting comments Declan, even if I am more enthusiastic about the music than you.

    You are quite right about his use of certain notes.
    Here’s a quote from the Ardley website:

    “A Symphony of Amaranths is dedicated to two immortals who produced the greatest orchestral jazz music – Duke Ellington and Gil Evans. The whole work is based on their initials – the notes DE and GE – and A Symphony of Amaranths is the second in a trilogy of works begun with The Greek Variations and followed by Kaleidoscope of Rainbows that all use a sequence of notes to provide the foundation for composition and improvisation.”

    https://www.neilardley.com/symphony-of-amaranths/

    I was intrigued by your suggestion that the music is not really jazz. There is not perhaps the large scope for improvisation that you would normally find but he certainly gathered together the best jazz musicians of his time when making it.

Leave a Reply