The Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet - BBC Jazz Club Sessions 1965-1966 (2020)

Creating ‘a most interesting groove which combines a good deal of avant garde experimentation with the jazz fundamentals of logic andswing’ (Melody Maker), the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet has gone down in British jazz history as a cult band, its few commercially- issued albums remaining among the most collectable of their kind. Mixing the gravitas of the veteran saxophonist Rendell with the ambitious and eclectic tastes of co-leader Carr the unit was a crucible of Brit-jazz development, swiftly moving from orthodox Hard Bop to a style unquestionably its own. These three previously unissued sessions (both studio-taped and live) capture the band in transition from its early incarnation with Colin Purbrook in the piano chair through to the wilder, free-flowing, moods that followed MichaelGarrick’s arrival in 1965. Long-term Rendell/Carr fans will welcome ‘new’ versions of the quintet’s classic tracks Dusk Fire, Jubal and Hot Rod, as well as several group-penned compositions heard here for the first time.