Pioneering British Jazz musician and composer Barbara Thompson, who passed away two years ago after almost three decades since being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, would have turned eighty this July.
In commemoration Repertoire Records has reissued Paraphernalia's live album from 1980 - for the first time on CD, featuring a bonus disc highlighting the saxophone player's performances on the flute.
BARBARA THOMPSON'S PARAPHERNALIA - Live in Concert 1980 - 80th Birthday Edition incl. The Flute Collection (2CD) (1980/2024)
Other than the ok, yet far from perfect booklet quality of Jazz in Britain's 2023 release "First Light" this new double CD offers a great production throughout the whole duration.
"Live in Concert 1980", recorded during two consecutive nights, was one of the first projects Thompson and her husband and drummer Jon Hiseman worked on in their own studio and it's obvious that they were motivated to achieve the best production possible.
Two years before "Mother Earth", both of them, as well as the rest of the band were on a creative peak. I'm way to incompetent to fully grasp the versatility of Thompson's style between her ability to write distinct complex melodies, grounding her playing in an emotive, yet not too overwhelming Blues feeling and topping it of with fast soprano wizardry inspired by John Coltrane, but one thing is for sure: This live recording of masterful Jazz Fusion with sprinkles of Funk, Latin, Oriental and other influences showcases all her strengths and pairs it with fantastic work on bass, keyboards and of course the Colosseum-fame world class drumming of Hiseman. Did I really need another recording of one of his legendary solos? Probably not, but I also won't complain that it stretches the closer "Aliyah" to eighteen minutes.
As so often with Barbara Thompson I will stumble upon a couple of pieces which are a tad too sweet for my personal taste, and this recording also doesn't hide the fact that the great age of 80's schmaltz saxophone is approaching. And "Sunset" even goes full Disco, featuring the rarity of the drummer playing a four-to-the-floor bassdrum. And even though some of this tends more towards Easy Listening than I usually prefer, all this stuff is executed too great to actually bother me. There are also enough dirtier and more adventurous elements balancing the album more towards my liking.
And then there's of course the bonus disc, which features many highlights of this release. The flute-centric compilation was curated by Barbara Thompson herself, yet she couldn't see it released anymore. Combining it with the live album designed and filled with plenty of liner notes by her and Jon's daughter Ana Gracey was a good choice, since both compliment each other well.
It contains ten tracks with many different line-ups from studio and live releases from the 1970's to the 1990's and explores the different directions of musical exploration in Thompson's career even deeper.
From the raw screaming flute in "Bad Blues" to Jazz violins in "Castles in the Air" and "Head in the Sand", from the big classical setup of "Tibetian Sunrise" to the epic, almost twenty minutes long two-parter "Eastern Western Promise" this disc is just filled to the brim with excellent material.
Since nothing is exclusively new here, more advanced fans and collectors than me will know most of it - and even my face lights up more when for example the instant familiarity of the funky-ass "Goodtyme Mr. Sam" hits me.
The overall flow of this compilation really justifies it as its own work of art though. It was good choice that the order is not chronological, but sequenced with crafting a journey in mind. It ends with the beautiful flute and electric guitar of the shortest piece "Elysian Fields". Since this song was also played at Barbara Thompson's funeral, it probably is the most apt way to close this collection.
I think no matter if you're a long-time expert or still catching up with her discography like me, this is an excellent double release with a lot of love put into it.
"Live in Concert 1980", recorded during two consecutive nights, was one of the first projects Thompson and her husband and drummer Jon Hiseman worked on in their own studio and it's obvious that they were motivated to achieve the best production possible.
Two years before "Mother Earth", both of them, as well as the rest of the band were on a creative peak. I'm way to incompetent to fully grasp the versatility of Thompson's style between her ability to write distinct complex melodies, grounding her playing in an emotive, yet not too overwhelming Blues feeling and topping it of with fast soprano wizardry inspired by John Coltrane, but one thing is for sure: This live recording of masterful Jazz Fusion with sprinkles of Funk, Latin, Oriental and other influences showcases all her strengths and pairs it with fantastic work on bass, keyboards and of course the Colosseum-fame world class drumming of Hiseman. Did I really need another recording of one of his legendary solos? Probably not, but I also won't complain that it stretches the closer "Aliyah" to eighteen minutes.
As so often with Barbara Thompson I will stumble upon a couple of pieces which are a tad too sweet for my personal taste, and this recording also doesn't hide the fact that the great age of 80's schmaltz saxophone is approaching. And "Sunset" even goes full Disco, featuring the rarity of the drummer playing a four-to-the-floor bassdrum. And even though some of this tends more towards Easy Listening than I usually prefer, all this stuff is executed too great to actually bother me. There are also enough dirtier and more adventurous elements balancing the album more towards my liking.
And then there's of course the bonus disc, which features many highlights of this release. The flute-centric compilation was curated by Barbara Thompson herself, yet she couldn't see it released anymore. Combining it with the live album designed and filled with plenty of liner notes by her and Jon's daughter Ana Gracey was a good choice, since both compliment each other well.
It contains ten tracks with many different line-ups from studio and live releases from the 1970's to the 1990's and explores the different directions of musical exploration in Thompson's career even deeper.
From the raw screaming flute in "Bad Blues" to Jazz violins in "Castles in the Air" and "Head in the Sand", from the big classical setup of "Tibetian Sunrise" to the epic, almost twenty minutes long two-parter "Eastern Western Promise" this disc is just filled to the brim with excellent material.
Since nothing is exclusively new here, more advanced fans and collectors than me will know most of it - and even my face lights up more when for example the instant familiarity of the funky-ass "Goodtyme Mr. Sam" hits me.
The overall flow of this compilation really justifies it as its own work of art though. It was good choice that the order is not chronological, but sequenced with crafting a journey in mind. It ends with the beautiful flute and electric guitar of the shortest piece "Elysian Fields". Since this song was also played at Barbara Thompson's funeral, it probably is the most apt way to close this collection.
I think no matter if you're a long-time expert or still catching up with her discography like me, this is an excellent double release with a lot of love put into it.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen