Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet - 1965 - Shades Of Blue

Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet

1965 

Shades Of Blue

01. Blue Mosque

02. Latin Blue

03. Just Blue

04. Sailin'

05. Garrison '64

06. Blue Doom

07. Shades Of Blue

08. Big City Strut

Bass – Dave Green

Drums – Trevor Tomkins

Piano – Colin Purbrook

Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Don Rendell

Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ian Carr

Recorded: London, October 1, 2, 1964

Shades of Blue was the first Lansdowne outing of the Rendell Carr Quintet, and is an interesting contrast to the increasingly idiosyncratic and complex later works. If those later ’60s albums were landmarks in truly British modern jazz, this first 1964 recording reflects more American influence: one track with an easy latin groove (Blue Mosque), another a late-night bluesy swinger (Latin Blue), then a classic triple-speed chase (Blue Doom), usually a winning formula, and this one has a secret up its sleeve. Lurking in the shadows of side two track three is the title track, Shades of Blue, written by Neil Ardley. An atmospheric bitter-sweet ballad, you sense something special, magical unfolding, lovely, lyrical, enveloping. This track alone is worth the price of the whole collection.

Rendell delivers solid solos with an authoritative tenor voice, shades of Rollins and Zoot Sims , but it is when he switches to soprano that the music takes on a life of its own, laced with contrapuntal snake-charmer lines, rapid-fire ascending and descending arpeggios . His straight horn contrasts with Carr’s sour rasping brass, lurking in the bottom register. Colin Purbrook has a delicate, almost ethereal touch on piano, Trevor Tomkins is always on point with perfectly-judged textures and accents, Dave Green’s firm bass holds the ground.

A rare and beautiful record, lovingly reproduced, and harbinger of more exciting work to come.

With records, scarcity generally shouts louder than quality. The Shades of Blue album would struggle to justify its scarcity premium (see Collector’s Corner below) but scarcity is . . . scarcity. There just are not many copies around, because the original pressing run was so small, I have read the figure of 500, and that is what happens when today, demand exceeds supply.

You want a definition of “rare”? Popsike. This is, I believe, the most rare and expensive British Jazz record ever. May be two to three copies a year come to market, doesn’t look like more than twenty have ever been sold on Ebay (depending on how you write your search criteria). Factory Sample FFS £1500! This is Holy Grail territory.

Although the present album is the quintet’s debut, it could maybe be seen as their second one, since the band evolved out of the formation that had recorded Rendell’s Roarin’ album four years previously. Featuring the amazing Ian Carr on trumpet and the well-travelled Trevor Tomkins on drums, the quintet being completed by a usual-suspect of Green on bass and Purbrook on piano, although the latter’s departure would be the only line-up change in the quintet’s history. Some of these members were also involved in the cross-town rivals, The New Jazz Orchestra, and together, these two groups will carry more or less the who’s who of the next 15 or 20 years of the country’s jazz scene. Recorded in the fall of 64, and released on the Columbia UK label the following year, the evocative blue artwork is reminiscent of the US Blue Note label’s sleeves (not mentioning a reference to Miles' KoB album's title), and sonically-speaking, it’s fairly similar as well.

Opening on the Purbrook composition (one of two) of Blue Mosque, the album soldiers on in the well-beaten path of early-60’s standard jazz, because Rendell’s own compositions (4 of them) do not fare much farther, while the two Carr-penned tracks (well one of them is by brother Mike) do not sway much from the album’s general musical direction, although they’re a tad faster and feature muffled horns. Indeed, only the Neil Ardley-penned title track (then-member of the “rival” NJO) does feature a different sensibility, somewhat having more depth and soul despite its very-slow pace; but it’s not like you’ve changed of planets either.