I’ve had the pleasure of being involved recently in two forthcoming releases – a box set on RPM and a single CD reissue on Hux – that celebrate a particular ‘moment’ in British jazz.

The RPM box, ‘Turtle Records’, is now advertised on Spin CDs’ website, so here’s what it’s about…

It’s a 3CD clamshell box set comprising the three original LP releases from legendary British jazz producer Peter Eden’s own label, Turtle Records, in 1970-71. The albums are Mike Osborne’s Outback, Howard Riley’s Flight and John Taylor’s Pause, And Think Again. These have never been reissued officially before (though bootlegs appeared in the early 90s on FMR, stopped by legal intervention from Peter). Original copies would set anyone back over £800 today.

The albums have been mastered from the original tapes and I’ve created a 17,000 word/56 page booklet telling the story of progressive British jazz in and around 1970, having trawled the entirety of Melody Maker issues for that year and specifically interviewed or corresponded with Peter Eden, John Taylor, Howard Riley and other musicians on the albums – John Surman, Norma Winstone, Barry Guy – plus other musicians whom Peter Eden produced in that period: Michael » Continue Reading.