Jazz On The Beach 128: Michael Garrick, The Fabulous Rhinestones, Blues Beach 46, Buddy Guy, George Benson
Jazz On The Beach 128: Michael Garrick, The Fabulous Rhinestones, Blues Beach 46, Buddy Guy, George Benson
Jazz and blues radio for all
One of the highlights of this week’s Jazz On The Beach playlist is the first version of the remarkable Heart Is A Lotus by the British composer, pianist and jazz innovator Michael Garrick, that was recorded in 1968 along with five other tracks at BBC Maida Vale Studios for the Jazz In Britain radio programme. The Sextet’s line up was Garrick, saxophonist Don Rendell, trumpeter Ian Carr, flautist Jim Philip, double bassist Coleridge Goode and drummer Trevor Tomkins.
Heart Is A Lotus reappeared two years later (with two of the other tracks recorded that day, Song By The Sea and Temple Dancer) on the celebrated The Heart Is A Lotus (Argo, 1970), but this time with a wonderful vocal by Norma Winstone and Garrick playing piano instead of harpsichord. Here’s the 1970 version:
The original radio recordings were all but forgotten about until 2010, when Michael Garrick asked Gearbox Records’ founder/producer Darrel Sheinman if he was interested in hearing them. Sadly, Garrick died soon afterwards and the two boxes of 7 1/2 ips tape were set aside.
A plan to release them came to fruition a few years later, and with the support of Garrick’s son, the trumpeter Gabriel Garrick, the tapes were mastered by Jeremy Cooper, using Gearbox’s ‘60s Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 amps, an almost identical setup to Rudy Van Gelder’s mastering equipment of that era. The BBC Maida Vale engineers had played their part with stereo and reverberation effects in real time (this was 1968 after all) as the music was recorded live to stereo tape.
The resulting six track album was named Prelude To Heart Is A Lotus (Gearbox, 2013), as thanks to the detective work of Marlbank’s Stephen Graham who wrote the sleeve notes, that’s exactly what this was. The vinyl sounded fantastic and sold well with Prelude becoming an important British jazz album in its own right. It certainly ranks as one of the highlights of my time at Gearbox Records along with Binker and Moses’ groundbreaking Dem Ones (2015) and the country/folk Applewood Road collaboration (2016).
The Fabulous Rhinestones were not a jazz group, but Whitecaps from their second album Freewheelin’ (Just Sunshine, 1972) fits the playlist perfectly. As well as the three founder members, bassist Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag, Dylan, Miles), guitarist Kal David (Illinois Speed Press) and keyboardist Marty Grebb (The Buckinghams), it features alto saxophonist David Sanborn and two drummers - Greg Thomas (left side) and Denis Whitted (right side), with strings arranged by Jerry Ragavoy. It’s a great tune and Sanborn is absolutely flying here.
The Rhinestones were a fixture of the early ‘70s Woodstock scene as documented in Barney Hoskyns’ book Small Town Talk, and the cover photos were taken at Ron Merian’s infamous music venue The Joyous Lake. If you haven’t heard the album before, here’s the whole thing:
There’s new music this week from the illustrious Finnish pianist and composer Olli Ahvenlahti with the title track from his new album Mirror Mirror (We Jazz, April 19th) that features trumpeter Jukka Eskola, tenor saxophonist Joonatan Rautio, electric bassist Ville Herrala and drummer Jaska Lukkarinen. Ahvenlahti is playing electric piano here and this is very much in the style of his jazz funk ‘70s recordings, but I also have a soft spot for his more acoustic side on albums like Thinking, Whistling too.
Also, a new version of Nature Boy (first recorded by Nat ‘King’ Cole in 1948) from Edy Forey’s upcoming album Culture Today (So Soul Records, April 4th). Singer Edy Szewy and keyboardist Guilhem Forey take a song that really shouldn’t be covered any longer but end up doing something rather good with it.
Another new release highlight is the terrific Return Of The Lost Tribe by Chicagoans Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble from the album Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse, March 8th), featuring multi percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, trumpeter Corey Wilkes, baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, violinist James Sanders and cellist Ishmael Ali. Also this week, the exquisite Glimmers by alto saxophonist and composer Jasmine Myra from her upcoming album Rising (Gondwana, May 3rd). I’m looking forward to hearing the whole thing, her 2022 debut Horizons was a masterpiece.
From the vaults…alto saxophonist Eric Kloss’ deeply grooving and a little out there version of Carole King’s It’s Too Late from One, Two, Free (Muse, 1972) that also features guitarist Pat Martino. There’s a pair of Blue Notes by two of my favourite tenor saxophonists - Hank Mobley’s If I Should Lose You from Soul Station (1960) and Joe Henderson’s title track from Mode For Joe (1966). And finally, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s Straight Life (CTI 1971) with the incredible lineup of Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and percussionist Richard ‘Pablo’ Landrum.
Blues Beach is back with its regular fortnightly show. This week there’s a packed playlist that includes the complete and utterly killer version of Buddy Guy’s First Time I Met The Blues with bassist David Myers and drummer Fred Below. It was recorded at Theresa’s Lounge by director Harley Cokeliss for his 1972 film Chicago Blues. Check out the extract above and hear the whole thing on the show via the link below.
And while you’re here…
Many thanks to Sabina Desir for hipping me to this great George Benson interview by Rick Beato. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s wonderful.
Listen Live
You can listen live to Jazz On The Beach every Wednesday evening from 10.00pm - midnight* and to Blues Beach every other Thursday from 6.00pm - 7.00pm* on DealRadio.co.uk or via the TuneIn Radio app. (*UK time)
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Both shows are broadcast live from the Deal Radio Studio at 69a High Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6EH, a stone’s throw from the beach.
Jazz On the Beach and Blues Beach radio shows are sponsored by our good friends at Wellingtons with two fine locations: Park Avenue at Welly’s Coffeehouse and Bar, 6 Park Avenue, Deal and Wellingtons Coffeehouse and Bistro, 9 High Street, Dover.
A quick reminder of what this newsletter is trying to achieve:
Distribute the playlists and playback links for my two radio shows avoiding social media platforms
Make those shows more enjoyable by offering background on the music played
Share music and whatever knowledge I have
Appreciate and grow the listener community
You can get back to me through Substack Notes, their new DM feature or even good old fashioned email at jazzonthebeach@icloud.com