The Don Rendell Five Featuring Barbara Thompson - 1976 - Just Music

The Don Rendell Five Featuring Barbara Thompson

1976

Just Music

01. The Wensleydale Suite

02. Well, Make It Up

03. Sands Of Time

04. Blues For Adolphe Sax

05. Penta-gone

06. Gab And Ben

07. Out Of My Window

08. Mina Impact

Bass, Bass Guitar – Steve Cook

Clarinet, Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Don Rendell

Drums – Laurie Allan

Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Barbara Thompson

Piano, Electric Piano – Peter Lemer

A1, B1, B3 : BBC Maida Vale Studios, London - Tuesday, January 29, 1974

A2, A3, B2, B4, B5 : BBC Maida Vale Studios, London - Wednesday June 12, 1974

Don Rendell - one of the elder statesmen of British jazz and one of it's most admired and respected musicians - has played with so many of the greats: Ted Heath, John Dankworth, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman and Billie Holliday (as part of her band for a recorded gig in Manchester) and with his own band opposite the likes of Gerry Mulligan and the MJQ. And that was just the 1950's. Since then he has worked with a large number of the best of British and American musicians - Ian Carr, Michael Garrick, Barbara Thompson (who appears on this album), Robin Jones and Dave Green, to name but a few of the British players.

'Just Music', featuring the acclaimed Don Rendell Five, is in fact two sessions from 1974, both recorded at the BBC Maida Vale studios in London and subsequently broadcast as part of the Jazz Club and Jazz In Britain programmes. This is a first time on CD issue for these recordings.

This album is something of a classic of British jazz from the period, consisting of two BBC recordings of the Don Rendell Five, a group which never recorded commercially with this line-up - although a 12" maxi-single of "Blues for Adolphe Sax" and "Swings and Roundabouts" both written by Thompson - appeared in 1976 featuring Rendell and Thompson with a different rhythm section.

The first four tracks of the album feature "The Wensleydale Suite" a 16 min. piece which provides an excellent showcase for the band, particularly the diverse instrumental combinations the front-line could muster - two tenors, flutes, the sensuous weaving of two sopranos (on Wensleydale) and other imaginative pairings.

The remaining tracks - from a "Jazz in Britain" broadcast - also utilise this strength and present original compositions by both saxophonists - and one, "Gab and Ben" by pianist Peter Lemer.