As a young British jazz pianist and composer in the 60s, Michael Garrick cut his teeth with the Rendell-Carr quintet. Not only did they air his compositions, but their work together led to a solo deal over which Garrick stretched some wonderful musical canvases on albums such as October Woman and Home Stretch Blues.
This latest Trunk call harks back to the kindling of Garrick’s recording career. The first four tracks are culled from an acetate in Garrick’s collection, documenting two fascinating 1964 recording sessions with Shake Keane. The first two tracks pair Garrick’s piano and Keane’s trumpet/flugelhorn with The Hasting Girls Choir to wonderfully enticing effect. Tracks three and four were recorded with the Gordon Langford Orchestra, and see Keane delightfully plunge into bossa nova (with the aptly named Bossa Nova Trieste), as well as his own composition, Troubles.
The second half of this collection – Fish Babies, Watershute, Sun Maiden and Regrets – are culled from a mega-rare 1964 EP entitled A Case Of Jazz, where Keane, Garrick, Coleridge Good (bass) and Bobby Orr (drums) serve up some very learned grooves indeed. Delightful.
