windmill tilter!

[Guest akanalog]

via our friendly british jazz enthusiasts of the aaj board (does bev even come here anymore?) i discovered that kenny wheeler's "windmill tilter" is being issued on CD on qnote? which i guess is john dankworth's label? i think no master tape of the album exists, so it is going to be mastered from an LP. i wish more people (manfred eicher, cough cough) were OK with doing this so rare (and good) stuff could come out in digital form.

i have never heard this album myself, but as far as i know, it is one of the mysterious holy grails of british jazz. i cannot imagine it is bad and LPs are a zillion dollars and extremely rare. can't wait to hear it.

[Guest akanalog]

if you are wondering why i am so excited about an album i haven't heard, it is because it is one album i assumed i would never get a chance to check out, let alone find available on CD.

[clifford_thornton]

It's a real mellow side and vary tastefully arranged. I found it a bit too "poppy" for my tastes, though McLaughlin does play nicely on it. Not "essential" but it fills a gap in the shelves, right?

[ep1str0phy]

Let me just say I've been waiting to hear this one for a very, very long time...

[sidewinder]

Absolutely superb LP - really a Johnny Dankworth Orchestra session from the late 60s, composed and arranged by Wheeler when he was in an 'inactive' period due to injury (and commisioned as a favour by Dankworth). The CD I believe will be a needle-drop from a mint/near mint LP of the Fontana, which now a pretty rare album on the vinyl. The Dankworth LPs from this period are not too difficult to find but this one seems to have slipped off the radar very quickly after issue.

It's been a favourite of mine for some years now and I suspect lots of people on this board are going to enjoy it. I'm sure Dave Holland (who is on it by the way) must have been listening to it when he was doing the arrangements for his most recent big band LP (the way the brass unisons with vibes etc).

Great Don Quixote/Sancho Panza cover too - must have cost 6d to put together but very effective !

Edited 20 Sep 2006 by sidewinder

[rostasi]

I was just listening last week to it (and now as I type).

I don't get the big wait for it, but it's a pleasant album.

It's a bit on the "lite" side for me, but if you're into tastefully arranged

charts, then you may like this.

Rod

[Guest akanalog]

yeah i was actually able to download a rapidshare copy of the album this morning and it is a lot more composed and traditional than i expected. i didn't realize dankworth played such a big part on it. i will pass!

i figured dudes like tony oxley and john taylor were on it. but i was mistaken.

[sidewinder]

Yep, it's a Johnny Dankworth album with arrangements by Kenny Wheeler.

[felser]

it fills a gap in the shelves, right?

Who has room on our shelves to leave gaps. More concerned with what to do with the piles which don't fit on the shelves! Amazing times we're living in, as far as 90% of everything we could possibly want has seen it's way onto CD release in the last 20 years.

[Guest akanalog]

fels, i would respectfully completely disagree with you here.

i would say about 40 percent of stuff i like has made it to CD.

maybe 50 percent.

but being a fan of late 60s-mid 70s jazz i would say many prime sessions are still not on CD. ECM/Japo only release the big name stuff, Mainstream and Cobbelstone stuff have seen little CD release, many excellent Prestige/Fantasy/Milstone albums aren't out on CD, not much MPS stuff besides the big names is out and even some excellent BYG/Actual kind of stuff isn't on CD. not to mention many impulse! material is still not on CD. so i would say, for my tastes, i am not so happy with the current digital scene.

[ep1str0phy]

I'll be listening to this one soon, too...

...and--not to derail the topic--but the mentions of Wheeler, John Taylor, and Tony Oxley remind me of an album I just got--Once Upon A Time, by the Alan Skidmore Quintet. It veers between extremely tasteful post-bop in the vein of the 2nd Miles Quintet and fairly striking British free jazz--a keeper, no doubt.

[clifford_thornton]

I prefer the one after this, on Philips, called "TCB."

It has been reissued on CD.

[Guest akanalog]

TCB is on CD? wow i didn't know.

i did not care for the alan skidmore "once upon a time" very much.

strangely enough, i do greatly enjoy the "jazz in britain 1968-1969" that has music from the same session as the skidmore set. i think i enjoy the compositions more.

in a similar vein, i also like john taylor's "pause and think again" and tony oxley's "the baptised traveller" more than the skidmore.

[clifford_thornton]

I don't have the Taylor (wasn't that on a Turtle LP?) but the Oxley is great, if a bit obvious in the well it draws from. Baby steps...

TCB was reissued in a Japanese paper-sleeve format a few years ago. That's what I have - Lord knows I've never seen a clean LP for much under $250.

[Roger Farbey]

I prefer the one after this, on Philips, called "TCB."

It has been reissued on CD.

I love TCB too but it was only reissued on CD in Japan - a true crime! However, Dankworth and Wheeler's (let's not forget it's Kenny's material here) 'Tilter' is fantastic. Easily the best jazz album made in the UK (oh oh, I can feel the flames even now!). Seriously it is excellent and anyone who likes Kenny or John Dankworth will appreciate this album I don't find it lightweight either - a very considered and well-balanced album. It is due out next Spring which I imagine is to coincide with Dankworth's 80th birthday. By the way, his quartet of albums from the sixties have been issued on CD but not distributed outside of his own company (QNote) and they don't publicise this fact. They are all excellent albums too and very very underrated. Dankworth's arrangements have certainly influenced the likes of Wheeler and Mike Gibbs to name but two. Incidentally, and as we're talking Brit reissues you may be interested to learn that Ogun have just reissued for the first time on CD the Skidmore/Osborne/Surman classic 'SOS'. Lovely digipack product too.

Edited 20 Sep 2006 by Roger Farbey

[felser]

fels, i would respectfully completely disagree with you here.

i would say about 40 percent of stuff i like has made it to CD.

maybe 50 percent.

but being a fan of late 60s-mid 70s jazz i would say many prime sessions are still not on CD. ECM/Japo only release the big name stuff, Mainstream and Cobbelstone stuff have seen little CD release, many excellent Prestige/Fantasy/Milstone albums aren't out on CD, not much MPS stuff besides the big names is out and even some excellent BYG/Actual kind of stuff isn't on CD. not to mention many impulse! material is still not on CD. so i would say, for my tastes, i am not so happy with the current digital scene.

I'm with you on the Mainstream (Buddy Terry,Harold Land)/Cobblestone(Jimmy Heath, Steve Kuhn, Bobby Jones)/MPS (Sugarcane Harris, I think Hannibal Marvin Peterson if I remember correctly), but that being said, Mainstream and Cobblestone don't account for many titles. Muse is missing a lot of good stuff (man, thy released a LOT of nice stuff in the 70's), and there are still an awful lot of really Archie Shepp titles missing, as well as a lot of other interesting (if often flawed) Impulse! CD's. But what's been out is amazing. 60's/early-70's Rock is ridiculously well covered by the digital era, and that is probably even more of my collection than jazz, so that changes the ratios for me compared to you. But your point is well-made and well-received, thx.

[ep1str0phy]

To be fair, the better bulk of Impulses have been reissued on CD... in Japan. I'm still surprised by what turns up in the import/used bins.

[sidewinder]

I don't have the Taylor (wasn't that on a Turtle LP?)

Yep (along with the Mike Osborne 'Outback')

[sidewinder]

I prefer the one after this, on Philips, called "TCB."

It has been reissued on CD.

By the way, his quartet of albums from the sixties have been issued on CD but not distributed outside of his own company (QNote) and they don't publicise this fact. They are all excellent albums too and very very underrated. Dankworth's arrangements have certainly influenced the likes of Wheeler and Mike Gibbs to name but two.

'Full Circle' on Phillips from the early 1970s is also a very good one - although quite a bit more rock-oriented than 'Windmill Tilter'. Quite a few of the arrangements on this are by Mike Gibbs.

[clifford_thornton]

I don't have the Taylor (wasn't that on a Turtle LP?)

Yep (along with the Mike Osborne 'Outback')

Got that one. It wasn't as earth-shaking as I thought it would be, and I still think his best work is on the Ric Colbeck LP.

[Guest akanalog]

anyone know when this SOS reissue is coming out?

i don't see it listed anywhere. i thought it was out?

[clifford_thornton]

I thought it was "paired" with something but am too lazy to look up exactly what. I really don't "get" that record, but so be it...

[slide_advantage_redoux]

Let me just say I've been waiting to hear this one for a very, very long time...

My feelings exactly. I have a great many of Kenny's sides. I'd say nearly everything under his own name, but I am probably way off base.

I really enjoy the humor that comes across...not only in his writing but in his song titles. On top of that, he is without a doubt one of the best brass players ever to play 'jazz'. Phenomenal chops, and one of the warmest trumpet tones around.

[sidewinder]

One of the few brass players to find great inspiration in and to build positively and individually on the legacy of Booker Little !

Still playing very nicely at NorthSea this year, in tandem with Norma Winstone. Hope they tour the UK again soon.

[Roger Farbey]

One of the few brass players to find great inspiration in and to build positively and individually on the legacy of Booker Little !

Still playing very nicely at NorthSea this year, in tandem with Norma Winstone. Hope they tour the UK again soon.

Saw Kenny play at the 100 Club benefit gig for Ian Carr last week. He's beginning to look his age a little now but he certainly still plays wonderfully and his band played three KW compositions. Sheer magic. Awesome.