Articles

Neil Ardley: Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows Live '75

by Chris May
March 15, 2021

One of the more obscure but loftiest masterpieces of British jazz, composer Neil Ardley's long-form suite Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows was released on the tiny Gull Records label in 1976. Its beauty and vitality have remained absolutely unsullied by the passing years and the album has been reissued a couple of times, most recently on Dusk Fire in 2005. In March 2021, the album has been joined by a previously unreleased live recording made at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall a year ...

Neil Ardley: Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows

by Chris May
March 20, 2005

The last twelve months or so have been a giddying reissue bonanza for fans of British jazz from the '60s and '70s. A feast following a famine, of course, as most of the reissued music, much of it now on CD for first time, has been unavailable for over twenty years. That axis of key innovators and soloists from the era which was Neil Ardley/Michael Gibbs/Ian Carr/Don Rendell has been particularly well represented, with seminal albums resurfacing on Universal's Impressed ...

Neil Ardley/Ian Carr/Don Rendell: Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises

by Chris May
September 10, 2004

Another masterpiece of British jazz reissued on Universal's outstanding Impressed Re-pressed series, where it joins other long unavailable classics such as Amancio D'Silva's Integration , reviewed last month.

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 ...