Alan Wakeman - The Octet Recordings

[RogerF]

Strictly speaking this should come under the heading of "archival release" because it isn't a reissue as such. The album comprises two BBC radio broadcasts roughly a decade apart. It's released on Friday 21 August 2020 and from the teaser track pre-released it sounds excellent. Also sports some of the cream of British jazzers. More details here: Gearbox Records

 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by RogerF

[ejp626]

Looks interesting.  Will keep an eye/ear out.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, that looks awesome.

[sidewinder]

On my list, for sure. Those ‘Jazz in Britain’ broadcasts were usually good and often by seldom recorded bands - wish I had recorded them.

Alan Wakeman still very much active and playing great on both his own projects and with the Westbrooks.

Edited August 19, 2020 by sidewinder

[RogerF]

What I particularly like about this release, apart from the music (obviously), is that Gearbox has attributed these recordings to their source (ie, The BBC). Some labels don't seem to bother too much with this "trivia" which makes me rather irritated. Update: But this is also why this double album's title is actually The Octet Broadcasts.

Edited August 21, 2020 by RogerF

[sidewinder]

17 minutes ago, RogerF said:

What I particularly like about this release, apart from the music (obviously), is that Gearbox has attributed these recordings to their source (ie, The BBC) from whom, I assume, they have licensed them. Some labels don't seem to bother too much with this "trivia" which makes me rather irritated.

I think the BBC provided archival recordings to the British Library so presumably that is the source used. Thankfully quite a bit survives, although many of the BBC sessions seem to be lost. The listing in the Harry Beckett book has a whole load of gems listed which don’t seem to have been recovered.

Edited August 20, 2020 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

The samples of this sound great. Lovely cover too, will look good on the LP version

[mjazzg]

Anyone else surprised to see Paul Lytton drumming on the '69 session? Not his usual habitat.

Also, I'm going to find the announcers very tiresome each time I listen to this, they really break up the run of the music which is fabulous. Their inclusion may make the difference for me to purchase or stream.  I really can't see what they're meant to add beyond quaint historical context - a mistake I feel.

Edited August 21, 2020 by mjazzg

[sidewinder]

There are other releases out there with the announcements cut out - can be equally annoying. 

[RogerF]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

Anyone else surprised to see Paul Lytton drumming on the '69 session? Not his usual habitat.

Also, I'm going to find the announcers very tiresome each time I listen to this, they really break up the run of the music which is fabulous. Their inclusion may make the difference for me to purchase or stream.  I really can't see what they're meant to add beyond quaint historical context - a mistake I feel.

Part of the reason for inclusion of the intro was that in the '69 recording due to time limitations Brian Priestley had to make an announcement at the beginning of one track over John Taylor's piano cadenza which Wakeman in his sleeve notes admits was unfortunate but seemingly unavoidable. So to remove the intro to that track would have also removed JT's playing too. Not ideal, I agree. (and yes, Lytton playing "straight" traps is indeed a rareity). 

[clifford_thornton]

So this would have been right between Lytton's participation in White Noise and his joining up with Evan Parker in '70. Nice.