Sidewinder track:
"Good News" by the Stan Sulzmann Quartet
From: "On Loan With Gratitude" by Stan Sulzmann (CD1, Track 4)
Details:- Stan Sulzmann - On Loan With Gratitude
Stan Sulzmann - Saxes and Flutes
John Taylor - Keyboards
Ron Mathewson - Bass/Bass Guitar
Tony Levin - Drums and Percussion
'On Loan With Gratitude' was a very low-profile UK vinyl release from 1977 put out on Graham Collier's Mosaic label (the UK one, not the Stanford Connecticut one), which I can't say I ever remember seeing in the shops. I suspect that most sales of it will have been done at Sulzmann's gigs of the time. What I do remember though is the title track being used for one of Charles Fox's BBC Radio 3 jazz shows, 'Jazz Today' I think - around the time of release, perhaps a year or two later. My understanding is that the LP tracks in the release were recorded at the BBC Transcription Studios at Shepherds Bush, so pretty well recorded. The track "Good News" is listed as one of the bonus tracks for the recent CD issue and was not included on the Mosaic LP but was presumably recorded by the group for a BBC broadcast around 1974/75 (possibly "Jazz Today"). I would guess that this recording of "Good News" therefore originates as a stereo FM over-the-air amateur recording (broadcast quality for these BBC shows was usually extremely good).
Stan, of course, remains very active on the UK scene to this day and has long been recognised as one of the leading UK jazz sax/flautists and jazz educators. The group he put together for this release was a stellar grouping of close associates, all 3 of whom are sadly no longer with us. Of particular note - Taylor and Sulzmann had previously recorded together to very good effect on 'Pause And Think Again' , a really excellent modal session which was put out under Taylor's name some years previously by Peter Eden's Turtle Records. Sulzmann was also previously a member of an earlier edition of Graham Collier Music, hence the Collier/Mosaic connection.
Reasons for inclusion - quality of the track, its relative obscurity and Sulzmann being a really excellent and somewhat unheralded player meriting wider acclaim.