A double CD package featuring British
modernists and their American counterparts. The British, make that ‘Soho’,
modernists of the time, including John Dankworth, Tubby Hayes, Don Rendell and
Ronnie Scott, are represented in various combinations on disc one (15 tracks),
the Americans are heard on disc two (14 tracks), Donald Byrd a notable
exception, appearing on a London Blue Note recording session in August 1958.
The BSH reader will know all about Art Blakey, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans and Horace Silver, with classic recordings in various formats sitting on shelves, perhaps gathering dust. Is the music heard on one disc better than the other? No. Is one disc more interesting than the other? Yes.
A particularly striking track features
Jamaican born Dizzy Reece, at the time a key figure on the London jazz scene,
locking horns with fellow trumpeter, American Donald Byrd. It could be said
Reece doesn’t come off second best! What’s more, the track in question, all ten
minutes of Reece’s Close-Up, features Tubby Hayes in blistering
form.
The British recordings include pianists
Alan Clare, Terry Shannon and Harry South, saxophonists Derek Humble, Ronnie
Ross and Ronnie Scott, and trumpeters Bert Courtley, Jimmy Deuchar and Dickie
Hawdon.
For the listener who wasn’t around at
the time and is yet to be a dedicated collector of British jazz
recordings, Soho Scene ’58 is an excellent introduction to the
many top class musicians working this side of the Atlantic, the Americans
requiring little in the way of introduction. Soho Scene ’58 Jazz
Goes Mod (RnB Records RANDB079) with an insightful essay
written by Simon Spillett, is available via the link below. Russell
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