more from
Gearbox Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Octet Broadcasts - 1969 and 1979

by Alan Wakeman

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    190gm, 33 RPM

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Octet Broadcasts - 1969 and 1979 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £30 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact Disc with mini LP replica sleeve.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Octet Broadcasts - 1969 and 1979 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £15 GBP

     

1.
2.
Dreams 10:10
3.
4.
Forever 08:09
5.
6.
Chaturanga 02:54
7.
8.
Vienna 05:38
9.
10.
11.

about

"The list of dramatis personae tells its own story: the cream of British jazz of the period assembled to play a series of imaginatively conceived compositions by Wakeman that move between inside and outside playing, swaying majestically between the exposition of powerful, Mingus-like themes that dissolve into abstraction only to elegantly reassemble and power majestically on." - Jazzwise ★★★★

"There is no-one who can touch us quite so deeply on a ballad, or raise the temperature on stage with such reckless abandon when the mood takes him." - Mike Westbrook

“The horns come charging out, and Beck’s piano, which starts with an almost free intro, goes into houserockin’ mode, taking up the majority of solo space as the horns sway and harmonize like background singers.” - Stereogum

“A blend of free blowing and kitsch show-tune… It is of considerable historical interest—and also a whole heap of fun.” - All About Jazz

“The next young generation of British jazz” has been applied many times to London’s current jazz scene, but this headline from Melody Maker was also used to describe Alan Wakeman and his band back in 1970. And if a prototype for Binker and Moses' viscerally energetic, semi-free sound is sought, you would be hard pressed to find a closer relative than the second part of climactic Disc 1 highlight 'Dreams'.

The Octet Broadcasts is made up of two BBC sessions from 1969 and 1979 respectively. Taken and mastered from the original analogue tapes by Gearbox, the album offers a snapshot of a time when British jazz was at another high, featuring such names as John Taylor, Alan Skidmore, Paul Lytton, and Art Themen, who themselves were contemporaries of and collaborated with the likes of Evan Parker, Michael Garrick, Ian Carr, and Roscoe Mitchell.

Wakeman, influenced by Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus and mentored by Mike Westbrook, was composing singular, large ensemble pieces at a time when jazz had long left the limelight and rock was in the foreground. His brand of warm, pastoral jazz, reminiscent of brass bands and traditional chorales whilst also fit to bursting with free improvisation and dramatic motifs, is representative of a magical period in British jazz which deserves to be unearthed and heard again.

credits

released August 21, 2020

DISC 1
Jazz Workshop 1969

A1 Dreams
A2 Forever
B1 Merry-Go-Round

Musicians:
Alan Wakeman: tenor sax, clarinet
Alan Skidmore: tenor sax, flute, two gongs at once
Mike Osborne: alto sax, clarinet, tambourine
Paul Rutherford: trombone, small Chinese gong
Paul Nieman: trombone, small Chinese gong
John Taylor: piano, castanets
Lindsay Cooper: bass, sleigh bells
Paul Lytton: drums

Introduced by Brian Priestley
Produced by Roger Eames

Recorded at BBC Aeolian Studio 2 between 7.00 and 10.30pm on Friday 21st November 1969

Broadcast Sunday 8th December 1969 at 12.30am on BBC Radio 1 ‘Jazz Workshop’

DISC 2
Jazz in Britain 1979

C1 Charles Fox Introduction
C2 Chaturanga
C3 Manhattan Variation
D1 Vienna
D2 Robatsch Defense
D3 Kingside Breakthrough
D4 Charles Fox Conclusion

Musicians:
Alan Wakeman: tenor sax, soprano sax
Alan Skidmore: tenor sax
Art Themen: tenor sax
Henry Lowther: trumpet
Paul Rutherford: trombone
Gordon Beck: piano
Chris Lawrence: bass
Nigel Morris: drums

Introduced by Charles Fox
Produced by Pete Ritzema

Recorded at BBC Maida Vale Studio 5 between 2.30 and 6.00 pm on Wednesday 23rd May 1979

Broadcast on Monday 9thJuly 1979 at 11.25 pm on BBC Radio 3 ‘Jazz in Britain’

Cut and Mastered by Caspar Sutton-Jones and Darrel Sheinman at Gearbox Records

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Alan Wakeman London, UK

Alan Wakeman is a British saxophonist and clarinettist who has been active since the 1960s. He is associated with Mike Westbrook, Paul Lytton, Soft Machine, and Graham Collier.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ySnyhPM-g
... more

contact / help

Contact Alan Wakeman

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Alan Wakeman, you may also like: