Michael Garrick & Shake Keane - 1964 - Rising Stars

Michael Garrick & Shake Keane

1964

Rising Stars

01. Rising Star

02. Song Of Romance

03. Bossa Nova Trieste

04. Troubles

05. Fish Babies

06. Watershute

07. Sun Maiden

08. Regrets

Bass – Cleridge Goode (tracks: 4 to 8)

Drums – Bobby Orr (tracks: 4 to 8)

Flugelhorn – Shake Keane

Piano – Michael Garrick (tracks: 4 to 8)

Tracks 1-4 previously released on EP as

Shake Keane, The Hastings Girls Choir, The Gordon Langford Orchestra - Rising Star.

Tracks 5-8 previously released on EP as

Shake Keane And The Michael Garrick Quartette - A Case Of Jazz

1964 was a pretty special year, especially for groovy jazz in Britain. Not only did it see the release of Moonscape by the Michael Garrick Trio (JBH 022CD) but also the birth of these fine and exceptionally rare recordings. Modern, jazzy, exotic and progressive, early British jazz rarely sounded so good or beautiful. In 1964 the modern British jazz scene was growing, progressing and bursting out in creative musical rashes. Following the release of Moonscape (the UK's rarest British jazz LP), Michael Garrick teamed up with horn legend Shake Keane to cut an EP of modern ideas in a quartet setting called A Case Of Jazz. It was issued the same year in a run of just 99 copies. At the same time, flugelhorn maestro Shake Keane was working with several arrangers and set-ups, one of the results being a peculiar (and possibly unreleased) acetate of 4 cues: two recorded with The Hastings Girls Choir, two in a small but lively and slightly Latin combo. Coming directly from Michael Garrick's own archive, these exceptionally rare eight cues from 1964 have now been brought together for this unusual and exciting release. Opening with two cues with Keane and the Hastings Girls Choir, the music is ethereal and strangely exotic. Moving then through a fine British bossa nova and into the quartet recordings, we find the music pleasing, progressive (for 1964), creative and exciting. Also of note is the mighty fine "Sun Maiden," which has the kind of classic piano riff and repetitive regal rhythm so sought-after by many jazz collectors. These tracks and complete album are worthy additions to the growing archive of the classic modern British period jazz, and feature two major artists flourishing early in their careers.

Trunk Records, founded by vinyl collector in extremis Jonny Trunk, has continually reissued the weird, the arcane, and the rare in everything from library and soundtrack records to British jazz. That said, their 2007 re-release of Michael Garrick's impossibly hard to find 10" album Moonscape is a high point in its ever expanding catalog. In Rising Stars, Trunk pairs four tunes featuring Shake Keane from unreleased acetates in Garrick's private collection, and four from a 45 EP of a short-lived quartet featuring the pair, as well as bassist Cleridge Goode and drummer Bobby Orr, all recorded circa 1964. The first two tracks feature Keane's gorgeous flügelhorn fronting a rhythm section, and the Hastings Girls Choir conducted by Edmund Niblett. The title track is a moody piece of exotica, with Keane blowing mellifluously and bluesily atop hand percussion, a harp, and an electric organ simulating strings. "A Song of Romance" is simply "Blue Moon" with different lyrics; it's haunting and beautiful. The next two cuts feature Keane as a member of the Gordon Langford Orchestra. The most notable is "Bossa Nova Trieste," a killer bossa jam that Keane masters in his recitation of the melody and in his solo. It's a rare bit of British bossa from the period. The final four tracks -- and real treasures -- are from a 45 EP by the Shake Keane & Michael Garrick Quartette. Keane uses a mute throughout. On "Fish Babies," Garrick plays large, expanded chords in a swinging hard bop strutter. "Sun Maiden," a Garrick tune, has its roots in a Malaysian folk melody, and is both haunting and lyrical (31 years after being recorded here, Garrick and his big band performed it for the king of Malaysia). It doesn't so much swing as saunter quixotically. "Watershute" is a futuristic Garrick number with Keane playing a beautiful, straight-ahead lyric jazz akin to the American West Coast sound, while Garrick's piano offers a vanguard blues to counter. It swings breezily but feels angular. The final cut is a cover of Pat Smythe's "Regrets," a straight jazz-blues ballad with lovely flügelhorn work from Keane; even with a mute, his requisite warmth and deep lyricism contrast with Garrick's forward-looking harmonic invention; the two elements serve to complement one another extremely well. Only 27 minutes in length, Rising Stars is an historically fascinating and musically satisfying aural view of two British jazz giants at the beginning of their professional lives.