The second in this series of albums that influenced me.
I spent my late teens and early twenties completely immersing myself in jazz. My friends thought I had lost my mind!
My guide to navigating this new musical landscape was found in the local public library – my oasis of calm, and a place of constant discovery and stimulation – the record section in particular.
I knew very little about jazz, so at first I would borrow albums based on whether I had heard of the artist, or just liked the cover.
The great thing about jazz albums was the extensive liner notes where you would learn about the artist, and importantly, piece together the history of jazz and its leading musicians. This then guided my choice of what to borrow at the next visit.
One album cover that immediately grabbed my attention was that of British pianist Stan Tracey – UNDER MILK WOOD – with its striking drawing of Stan and the poet. I was already a fan of Thomas’ play and so wanted to find out how it had been interpreted by a jazz musician. That was how I stumbled on what is widely regarded as one of the best British jazz albums, with beautifuly crafted melodies and stunning solos, particularly from Stan and saxophonist Bobby Wellins.
From then on I bought as many Stan Tracey albums as I could find, and afford. One of those was SALISBURY BUITE, a live recording of Stan’s octet from 1978. I loved it but found the more modern saxophone style of Art Themen a little perplexing. It was full of strange distortions of the saxophone sound and tangential harmonic flourishes.
Then came the light bulb moment. One morning I put the record on and listened to the long track which takes up the whole of side two: Miff. It starts with an extended bass solo from Dave Green before the full band come in with the spiky theme. Then Art enters with an altissimo scream descending into some low note multiphonics as he launches into a wild, exhuberent solo. Not only did it suddently make perfect sense, but it was one of the most exciting things I had heard in a long time. There was such a richness of musical expression, such daring in the melodic lines: I was enthralled and played the solo over and over.
My ears were now more receptive to the likes of Eric Dolphy, late Coltrane, Ornette Coleman – all very different, but all finding their down special new directions for musical expression.
I could never have guessed then that I would come to meet many of the great players on that album – Bryan Spring, Dave Green, Don Weller, the great Stan Tracey himself (one of my favourite British jazz musician), and of course my saxophone hero, Art Themen.
Art is now 80 and a frequent player at the Herts Jazz club where he is patron (taking over from Stan Tracey when he passed away).
He still astonishes with his beautifully wild solos.
Art Themen at Herts Jazz. Photo: Mike O’Brien
when curiosity threatens 