Neil Ardley
A Symphony of Amaranths
**2025 Repress. Clear Vinyl. Limited to only 150 copies in textured art paper. Included inner sheet with liner notes and pictures. Newly mastered sound from the original tapes and will include one bonus track recorded in the same sessions.** First ever vinyl reissue of this 1972 masterpiece by another of the big names in UK Jazz. Neil Ardley was offered the leadership of the seminal New Jazz Orchestra in 1964. Under his direction the Orchestra moved though different styles and changes of personn…
Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises
*2025 much needed repress!!!* Recorded in '69, Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises is irresistible on two counts. First, for its daringly conceived and brilliantly performed music, inspired by Greek folk songs and instrumental textures and deep enough to reveal all its treasures only after many repeated listenings. Second, for being recorded at the moment when the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet, a major force in British straight-ahead jazz since '62, had broken up and Carr's equally influent…
Le Déjeuner Sur L'Herbe
2024 Stock, reduced price. Remastered edition on British Jazz Explosion series. ‘Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe’ features key players in modern British jazz including Henry Lowther, Ian Carr, Michael Gibbs, Derek Wadsworth, Barbara Thompson, Dave Gelly, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Frank Ricotti, Jack Bruce and Jon Hiseman, under the directorship of Neil Ardley. ‘Nardis’ features solos by Ian Carr on flugelhorn, George Smith on tuba and – rarely heard – Jack Bruce on acoustic bass. Complementing this is what…
Kaleidoscope of Rainbows
Neil Ardley's visionary bridge: 1976's Kaleidoscope of Rainbows fuses British jazz-rock with Balinese gamelan scales. Seven Rainbow compositions built on pelog and slendro patterns, featuring Ian Carr, Paul Buckmaster, Tony Coe. Final part of Ardley's trilogy, pointing toward 1979's Harmony of the Spheres. Minimalist counterpoint meets exotic structures.
Mike Taylor Remembered
"The Syd Barrett of the avant-jazz scene" - the comparison is inevitable, tragic, and apt. Mike Taylor, British jazz composer, pianist, songwriter, died tragically young, leaving just two albums and co-writes with Ginger Baker for Cream's Wheels of Fire to his name. A talent that burned bright and brief, gone before most people realized what they'd lost. Under the direction of Neil Ardley - himself a significant figure in British jazz composition - several performers who had worked with Taylor g…
Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows: Live '75
Double CD Edition. Previously unreleased. Recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on the 20th October 1975. This is (almost) the complete Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows suite as originally imagined by Neil Ardley, over twice as long as the 'concise' version which appeared on his Gull studio album a year later. Unfortunately, due to tape issues on the night, only the first two minutes of the closing number of set one were captured. Otherwise, this album is presented exactly as the audience …
On The Radio : BBC Sessions 1971
This debut release of The New Jazz Orchestra BBC broadcasts from 1971 measure a year of change for the band’s musical director, Neil Ardley. The first session captures the full majesty of the NJO at the height of its powers in a ‘Jazz Club’ session from February with a 20-performer line-up pre-recorded at London’s Camden Theatre. Humphrey Lyttelton helms proceedings; musicians include Ardley, Harry Beckett, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Derek Wadsworth, Mike Gibbs, Don Rendell, Barbara Thompson, Dick…