Wonderful
This monumental anthology does a great service to fans of British Jazz and to lovers of a musician of great value such as Barbara Thompson. This woman burst onto the London scene in 1964 at the age of only 20, already endowed with considerable technical knowledge and, as evidenced by Dave Gelly in the precious 36-page booklet accompanying the 14 CD box, of unparalleled beauty. Gelly recalls how he and Jon Hiseman that Sunday morning were on a sidewalk in front of a series of shops including the Irish Pub where the rehearsals of the New Jazz Orchestra would take place when this creature landed from another world leaving them ecstatic: Jon Hiseman would become her husband and lifelong companion. Multi-instrumentalist of tenor saxophone, soprano and flute, he also knew how to play two instruments at the same time and was able to quickly carve out a space as a protagonist in a musical scene in total ferment where powerful and vital influences flowed more than anywhere else in the world.
The 14 CDs tell in a strictly chronological way between 1969 and 1990 Barbara's musical adventure through her participation in BBC programs but also depict the evolution of an important part of British Jazz. It begins with that New Jazz Orchestra by Neil Ardley in which gifted musicians such as Ian Carr, Dave Gelly, Dick Eckstall-Smith, Henry Lowther, Derek Watchins, Mike Gibbs and Jon Hiseman played. The atmospheres are sophisticated and complex, unlike the Big Bands in vogue at the time, here the gaze is evidently turned to the works of Gil Evans from the beginning of that decade, evoking their smoothness with a skilful use of tuba and brass. Moreover, at that time the large English formations were writing memorable pages by artists such as Mike Westbrook or Graham Collier. This scarce half hour of music would already be enough to justify the purchase of the box set (really well done by the commendable record company Repertoire).
