Ian Carr

Solar Session (JIB-25-S-EP)

Solar Session View larger

Solar Session

Ian Carr

Jazz In Britain

5060774190210

LPS 165246

JIB-25-S-EP

JAZZ

1

EP - 10 INCH 22,98 €

Beautifully packaged 120g 10" vinyl

One of the first European jazz bandleaders to embrace synthesizers, bass guitars and other electric instruments, trumpeter, composer and author Ian Carr forged a singularly British style of jazz-rock with his band Nucleus, which he formed in 1969 and with which he recorded a dozen albums through the 1970s. Carr had previously paid extensive dues in acoustic jazz, most notably as co-leader with saxophonist Don Rendell of the highly regarded, culturally inclusive Rendell-Carr Quintet from 1964 to 1969.

Solar Session is another valuable recovery from the vaults by the estimable not-for-profit label Jazz In Britain. It comprises a 26:44 suite which was recorded live in the studio on October 26 1970 and broadcast the following night on BBC radio. Two months later, the same "double quintet" (with the addition of trumpeter and flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler) went on to record an extended and restructured version of the material, which was released as Nucleus' third album, Solar Plexus (Vertigo, 1971).

A work-in-progress, the music on Solar Session provides an insight into the development of the suite, which, on the 8:41 closing track, "Snakehips' Dream," shows its closest, yet still glancing, intersection with Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), which had been released eight months earlier.

PERSONNEL:

  • Ian Carr (trumpet)
  • Harry Beckett (flugelhorn)
  • Brian Smith (saxophone, tenor)
  • Tony Roberts (saxophone, tenor)
  • Karl Jenkins (keyboards)
  • Chris Spedding (guitar, electric)
  • Ron Matthewson (bass, electric)
  • Jeff Clyne (bass, acoustic)
  • John Marshall (drums)
  • Chris Karan (congas)
  • Keith Winter (synthesizer)

Recorded live in-studio, London, on the 26th October 1970.

TRACKS:

  • SIDE A
  • A1. Element 1
  • A2. Bedrock Deadlock
  • A3. Spirit Level
  • SIDE B
  • B1. Torso
  • B2. Snakehips' Dream