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Product Description
CD Description
First release IN ANY FORM of seminal live date, featuring Colosseum and a who's who of British jazz including; Barbara Thompson, Harry Beckett, Mike Gibbs and Henry Lowther Riding high on the success of their “Valentyne Suite” release, Colosseum took to the road to showcase the album’s full force with Neil Ardley’s New Jazz Orchestra, which Jon Hiseman, Tony Reeves, Dave Greenslade and Dick Heckstall-Smith were also members of. “They knew it would work, because the band had already played on one track of the album, Butty‘s Blues,” recalls NJO member and acclaimed jazz critic Dave Gelly in his booklet notes. “This concert during London’s Camden Jazz Festival fell right in the middle of that tour, although it wasn’t officially part of it. With Colosseum, the NJO had played Fairfield Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Lanchester Polytechnic and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and were going on to play Portsmouth and Brighton. It would have been pointless trying to ignore the Colosseum connection, even if we’d wanted to, so Dave Greenslade and Clem Clempson stayed on board for this show, too.” The result, released for the first time, measures the extraordinary capabilities of a talent pool the like of which was not to be seen again in a jazz orchestra. Tracks: Stratusfunk / Tanglewood / Shades of Blue / Rope Ladder To The Moon / Dusk Fire / Naima / Nardis / Study / Rebirth / Ballad / Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe / National Anthem & Tango. Also Available: Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows (DUSKCD101)
From the label
First release IN ANY FORM of seminal live date, featuring Colosseum and a who's who of British jazz including Barbara Thompson, Harry Beckett, Mike Gibbs and Henry Lowther Riding high on the success of their Valentyne Suite release, Colosseum took to the road to showcase the album’s full force with Neil Ardley’s New Jazz Orchestra, which Jon Hiseman, Tony Reeves, Dave Greenslade and Dick Heckstall-Smith were also members of. "They knew it would work, because the band had already played on one track of the album, "Butty‘s Blues"" recalls NJO member and acclaimed jazz critic Dave Gelly in his booklet notes. "This concert during London’s Camden Jazz Festival fell right in the middle of that tour, although it wasn’t officially part of it. With Colosseum, the NJO had played Fairfield Hall, Birmingham Town Hall, Lanchester Polytechnic and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and were going on to play Portsmouth and Brighton. It would have been pointless trying to ignore the Colosseum connection, even if we’d wanted to, so Dave Greenslade and Clem Clempson stayed on board for this show, too." The result, released for the first time, measures the extraordinary capabilities of a talent pool the like of which was not to be seen again in a jazz orchestra.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The previous reviews are being unfair - yes the sound quality has some flaws but it is very listenable - certainly not like a dodgy bootleg. The audio quality itself is actually quite good, the main problem is with the balance. The accompanying booklet explains all this & the context at great length. There is an essay by Dave Gelly, who is not only a respected critic but was playing sax at the concert on the night! There is also a detailed note from the tape restorer Martin Mitchell. The historic context is that key members of the Ardley big band had formed a rock group - Coliseum - who were enjoying great popular success at the time. The NJO & Coliseum "united" for a short tour & this Camden gig is the only recorded evidence of the auspicious occasion. Recording a big band (20 or so musicians) is always difficult at the best of times - this recording seems to have been a two track tape made impromptu off the mixing desk, with certain instruments (& vocals) low in the mix. And then, as per usual, the tape has been left in bad storage for decades & needed to be salvaged, cleaned up & restored. No, it doesn't sound like an ECM record (thankfully!) but it's a good document of the band on the night.
As for the previous reviewers' other complaint about live recordings like this being released when many classic Britjazz LPs remain unreissued, that is because big record companies don't release jazz back-catalogue they think won't make money & yet, as is well known, often refuse to license it to smaller specialist labels for reissue. It is shameful but hardly the fault of small archival jazz labels (who I'm sure would love to reissue the classics) & all the more reason why specialist labels should be encouraged to release any decent tapes that unexpectedly turn up.
Someone who is really picky about sound should maybe get "official" professional multi-track recordings such as Mike Gibbs big band live double "Just Ahead" or Collier's live albums (eg Mosaic) or the "Will Power" live double (which featured an Ardley track). But I think most fans who love the classic era of British modern Jazz will welcome the chance to hear a rare vintage concert like Camden 70 with its amazing band line up & set list. (important note: the music here is almost all NJO jazz NOT Coliseum rock!)
As for the previous reviewers' other complaint about live recordings like this being released when many classic Britjazz LPs remain unreissued, that is because big record companies don't release jazz back-catalogue they think won't make money & yet, as is well known, often refuse to license it to smaller specialist labels for reissue. It is shameful but hardly the fault of small archival jazz labels (who I'm sure would love to reissue the classics) & all the more reason why specialist labels should be encouraged to release any decent tapes that unexpectedly turn up.
Someone who is really picky about sound should maybe get "official" professional multi-track recordings such as Mike Gibbs big band live double "Just Ahead" or Collier's live albums (eg Mosaic) or the "Will Power" live double (which featured an Ardley track). But I think most fans who love the classic era of British modern Jazz will welcome the chance to hear a rare vintage concert like Camden 70 with its amazing band line up & set list. (important note: the music here is almost all NJO jazz NOT Coliseum rock!)
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The sound is awful and the live must have been fantastic due to the cast, why not release cd by neil ardley le dejener sur l'herbe with Jack Bruce and Jon Hiseman instead and hear what and how they played, such relases raise expectations that are never met... it is a pity
2 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
.. and the 80s. JUST before CDs were available on a mass scale and you paid through the nose for them, too ! The sound quality on this CD took me straight back to the 70s, and not in a good way. There is virtually no treble or bass extreme, everything is in a middle channel and a sax sounds like a trumpet sounds like a drum. That said, and I've heard bootlegs worse than this, we are now in the 21st century and there are lots of software treatments one can apply to sound files to improve them. Maybe it was cost that made it unprofitable to do that to the tracks on Camden '70 but it's a great shame - there is some good stuff on here but after straining my ears to hear it, I long for some ECM or Aum Fidelity where you can hear the frets on a guitar, the valves on a sax and the brushes on drums.
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