Jazz on the Beach 184: Dick Morrissey, Grifton Forbes-Amos, Ron Magril, Tyrone Washington, Takeshi Inomata & Sound L.T.D.
Live jazz radio from the South Kent coast.
On this week’s playlist is Storm Warning, a ‘60s British jazz classic by Dick Morrissey, who was one of this country’s finest hard bop tenor saxophonists. It’s the title track from Storm Warning! (Mercury, 1966), written by pianist Harry South, and featuring the scene’s top rhythm section of double bassist Phil Bates and drummer Phil Seamen.
If you recognise the name but can’t quite place it, in the early ‘70s Morrissey co-founded the excellent jazz fusioneers Morrissey Mullen with guitarist Jim Mullen. He spent his later years living here in Deal where he died aged 60 in 2000.
Here’s Morrissey Mullen playing Brazil Nut from an early ‘80s TV show.
Continuing in the tenor vein, there’s Dexter Gordon’s beboppin’ Scrapple From the Apple from Our Man in Paris (Blue Note, 1963), recorded in the ‘Ville Lumière’ with fellow expats pianist Bud Powell and drummer Kenny Clarke, plus double bassist Pierre Michelot. Also, another opportunity (it’s been at least a year) to play Tyrone Washington’s dynamic title track from Natural Essence (Blue Note, 1968), with trumpeter Woody Shaw, alto saxophonist James Spaulding, pianist Kenny Barron, double bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Joe Chambers.
As for more contemporary tenorists, there’s the Branford Marsalis Quartet with a sensational reworking of Keith Jarrett’s ‘Long as You Know You’re Living Yours from Belonging (Blue Note, 27th March), with pianist Joey Calderazzo, double bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner. And there’s Noah Preminger’s bittersweet Unfair World from the recent Ballads (Chill Tone Records, 21st February), with pianist Julian Shore, double bassist Kim Cass and drummer Allan Mednard.
This week’s show opens with a terrific version of Sonny Rollins’ Tenor Madness by guitarist Yotam Silberstein from Standards Vol. 2 (Jojo Records, 18th April), with double bassist John Patitucci and drummer Billy Hart and featuring the great tenor saxophonist George Coleman still sounding terrific at 90 years old. It’s the tune that would often kick off the Monday jazz nights at the Lifeboat in Margate, but never sounded quite this good.
There are more exciting guitar players this week, with Ron Magril’s terrific high speed hard boppin’ Playing for Wes from Inspired (GleAM Records, 7th March), with fellow Tel-Avivers organist Yonatan Riklis and drummer Ofri Nehemya. Also, West Coast guitarist Graham Dechter & bassist Alex Frank swing with Jobim’s Ele é Carioca from Dechter, Frank, and Friends: The Lineage Series Vol. 1 (Bandstand Presents/La Reserve, 18th April), featuring pianist Jacob Mann and drummer Ryan Shaw. They have a great line in graphics too.
I recently discovered the young London based trumpeter Grifton Forbes-Amos, and am enjoying his Mum’s Birthday from Gratitude (self released, 28th April), with tenor saxophonist James Akers, pianist Jay Verma, bassist Nathan Dawkins and drummer King David Ike-Elehchi. Which neatly links into Knats, Ike-Elehchi’s Geordie jazz fusion band he co-leads with electric bassist Stan Woodward, and the track 500 Fils from Knats (Gearbox 28th February), with trumpeter Ferg Kilsby, tenor saxophonist Cam Rossi and keyboardist Sandro Shar.
Let’s give the drummer some dept: There’s an absolute classic from Takeshi Inomata & Sound L.T.D. with the funky jazz rock of Tak’s Tune from Sounds Of Sound L.T.D. (Nippon Columbia, 1970). The band are led by drummer Inomata, with flautist Toshiaki Yokota, tenor saxophonist Takao Uematsu, trumpeters Takashi Kumagai and Shunzo Ohno, trombonists Takashi Imai and Shigemichi Domoto, guitarists Ryo Kawasaki (and possibly Shigenori Kamiya), organist Yusuke Hoguchi and bassist Jun Suzuki.
There’s a second Japanese drummer led band with Kaito Nakamura’s rather wonderful Little Warm Winter from Invisible Diary (Mid Village, March), with alto saxophonist Riko Sasaki, pianist Otohito Fuse and bassist Riku Takahashi. Thanks to Brian McCrory’s excellent Jazz of Japan Substack for alerting me to this and many other interesting finds.
I have a soft spot for Japanese drummer Toshiyuki Sasaki’s new generation rare groovers Nautilus with keyboardist Mariko Nakabayashi and bassist Shigeki Umezawa. They’ve released a 7” single of Herbie Hancock’s Chameleon with Gene Harris’ Losalamitoslatinfunklovesong on the flip side.(Disc Union/Oonops Drops, 26th March). Here’s their ‘80s City Pop style version of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen’s mistakenly erased The Second Arrangement - Jake Malooley has the full story.
And finally, just one more drummer bandleader, New Yorker Chris Smith’s mashes up Alice in Chains and Joe Lovano songs with Rooster (Street Talk) from Jazz Grunge (Cellar Music, 16th May), recorded in Vienna with guitarist Christopher Pawluk, bassist Peter Slavov, tenor saxophonist Jure Pukl, alto saxophonist David DeJesus and vocalist Valerie Costa. And why not?
To listen to this week’s Jazz on The Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
Some recent shows on Mixcloud:
Blues Beach 73 - 17th April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 183 - 16th April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 182 - 9th April 2025
Blues Beach 72 - 3rd April 2025
Jazz on the Beach 181 - 2nd April 2025
Listen live on Deal Radio or Catch up on Mixcloud
Jazz On The Beach broadcasts live every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), with a repeat on Monday mornings from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
Blues Beach broadcasts live every other Thursday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (UK time).