John Cameron has had some career. The British jazz pianist, arranger and composer of film, TV and stages scores came up at the height of Swinging London in the mid-1960s. He had been playing piano professionally since age 14 in his hometown of Croydon and he attended Cambridge University.
One of his first pop jobs was arranging Donovan's Sunshine Superman on the album of the same name and the hit single in 1966. John brought in a range of jazz players and two studio rock guys—guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones, who would go on to make up half of Led Zeppelin. John also arranged Donovan's Jennifer Jupiter, Mellow Yellow and others.
His TV work began soon after, followed by the scores for films such as Kes (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), Night Watch (1973) and A Touch of Class (1973), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Sandwiched in was Off Centre, with his jazz quartet.
Released in July 1969, the album featured Harold McNair (fl,as,ts), John Cameron (p), Danny Thompson (b) and Tony Carr (d). The music is driving and angular, with an avant-garde feel in places and Thelonious Monk-ish and soul-jazz in others. Now the long out-of-print album has been reissued by UMR/Decca on vinyl.
The new release was remastered at Abbey Road using high definition 24bit/192kHz audio files, copied directly from the original stereo analogue master tapes. Images of those tapes are included in the new package along with liner notes by author, compiler and documentary filmmaker Tony Higgins.
The highlights here are John's confident, eclectic piano and the woodwinds by Harold McNair, who gives the record a Rahsaan Roland Kirk feel. In some ways, the album feels like a jazzy film score, akin to Sonny Rollins's Alfie soundtrack. But if you listen carefully, you'll hear London in the late 1960s, which featured jazz at the highest level that also was suitable for dancing.
JazzWax clips: Here's Go Away Come Back Another Day...
And here's Omar Cheyenne...
Bonus: Here's Donovan's Sunshine Superman with John Cameron's arrangement. Listen for the jazz textures...
One of his first pop jobs was arranging Donovan's Sunshine Superman on the album of the same name and the hit single in 1966. John brought in a range of jazz players and two studio rock guys—guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones, who would go on to make up half of Led Zeppelin. John also arranged Donovan's Jennifer Jupiter, Mellow Yellow and others.
His TV work began soon after, followed by the scores for films such as Kes (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), Night Watch (1973) and A Touch of Class (1973), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Sandwiched in was Off Centre, with his jazz quartet.
Released in July 1969, the album featured Harold McNair (fl,as,ts), John Cameron (p), Danny Thompson (b) and Tony Carr (d). The music is driving and angular, with an avant-garde feel in places and Thelonious Monk-ish and soul-jazz in others. Now the long out-of-print album has been reissued by UMR/Decca on vinyl.
The new release was remastered at Abbey Road using high definition 24bit/192kHz audio files, copied directly from the original stereo analogue master tapes. Images of those tapes are included in the new package along with liner notes by author, compiler and documentary filmmaker Tony Higgins.
The highlights here are John's confident, eclectic piano and the woodwinds by Harold McNair, who gives the record a Rahsaan Roland Kirk feel. In some ways, the album feels like a jazzy film score, akin to Sonny Rollins's Alfie soundtrack. But if you listen carefully, you'll hear London in the late 1960s, which featured jazz at the highest level that also was suitable for dancing.
JazzWax clips: Here's Go Away Come Back Another Day...
And here's Omar Cheyenne...
Bonus: Here's Donovan's Sunshine Superman with John Cameron's arrangement. Listen for the jazz textures...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved.
