Dusk Fire (Remastered) The Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet

• 1 Ruth 06:18
• 2 Tan Samfu 05:50
• 3 Jubal 07:13
• 4 Spooks 05:19
• 5 Prayer 05:47
• 6 Hot Rod 05:33
• 7 Dusk Fire 12:15
• Total Runtime 48:15

Info for Dusk Fire (Remastered)

A grey-area reissue of this legendary album: the magnificent Dusk Fire album recorded in 1966. Rightly considered a masterpiece of British Jazz, cool and quirky finishing on a high with Michael Garrick's powerful composition Dusk Fire. Rendell/ Carr Quintet shows how far British jazz in the second half of the ’60s had taken new directions. Not a jazz songbook standard in sight, moving away from the usual jazz conventions, heads and solos, rhythm section down in the engine room, improvised virtuosity of the soloists. The writing is more structured, a pictorial composition, storytelling, replete with literary allusions.

British jazz in the ’50s and ’60s never really became mainstream, eclipsed by transatlantic “popular music singers” and groups of young men strumming electric guitars. Even at jazz’s height, original American jazz ruled the charts, not British jazz. Even the local product fissured between reproduced Dixieland clarinet and striped waistcoat “Trad’ Jazz” and the Modernist. Older jazz fans clung on to their Charlie Parker collections, their big band swing albums, some perhaps a few even their Blue Notes. British modern jazz record titles sold in just a few thousands, hence their premium today at auction. British jazz musicians main source of income was not from record sales, or club performance, but laying down background music for film and TV – that was over 50% of Lansdowne Studios main business. However we have reason to be grateful that Denis Preston and others struggled against the tide of popular music to bring us good music, that was not especially popular.

Don Rendell, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, clarinet
Ian Carr, trumpet, flugelhorn
Michael Garrick, piano
Dave Green, bass
Trevor Tomkins, drums

Engineered by Adrian Kerridge

Digitally remastered

Don Rendell
born 4 March 1926, Plymouth, Devon, England. Rendell began playing alto saxophone as a child but later switched to tenor. He played in a number of dance bands during the late 40s, and in 1950 became a member of John Dankworth’s septet. After leaving Dankworth in 1953 he formed his own small group but also worked with bands led by Tony Crombie, Ted Heath and others. In 1956 he joined Stan Kenton for a European tour, appearing on Live At The Albert Hall. In the late 50s he played with Woody Herman. During the 60s Rendell was again leading his own bands, featuring musicians such as Graham Bond, Michael Garrick and Ian Carr, with whom he was co-leader of a successful band. The four albums he recorded with Carr are highly recommended. Rendell has also recorded with Stan Tracey (The Latin American Caper), and Neil Ardley (Greek Variations).

A fluent improviser, with hints of post-bop styling overlaying a deep admiration for the earlier work of Lester Young, Rendell has long been one of the most admired of British jazz artists. For many years he has been tireless in the promotion of jazz through his activities as a sought-after teacher.

Ian Carr
has been on the cutting edge of the British jazz scene for nearly four decades. Self-trained as a musician, Carr played an important role in the development of jazz-rock fusion, playing with John McLaughlin in the early '60s, forming one of England's first electronic jazz-rock fusion groups, Nucleus, in 1969 and playing with the international band the United Jazz Rock Ensemble, since 1975. In 1982, Carr received a Calabria award in southern Italy for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Jazz. Wire Magazine presented him a special award for services to British jazz in 1987. Carr has been equally influential as a music journalist and educator. The co-author of a jazz encyclopedia, The Essential Companion, Carr was also the author of Music Outside, an examination of contemporary British jazz published in 1973; Miles Davis: The Definitive Biography, published in 1982; and Keith Jarrett: The Man and His Music, published in 1991. Since 1992, Carr has written a monthly column for BBC Music Magazine. Carr is an associate professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Dance and lectures weekly on jazz history. Born in Scotland and raised in England, Carr thought little of a career in music until he was nearly 30 years old. Educated at King's College in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, where he studied English literature, Carr served in the Army in the late '50s. Shortly after his discharge, he formed a band, the EmCee Five, with his brother Mike and John McLaughlin. Carr remained with the band for two years, leaving to form the Rendell-Carr Group with saxophonist Don Rendell in 1962. During the seven years he worked with Rendell, Carr helped the band record five albums.

In September 1969, Carr helped form the groundbreaking fusion band Nucleus. The group attracted international acclaim when it took the top prize in a competition at the Montreaux International Festival in 1970. Carr continued to play with Nucleus until 1989 when he left to tour the United Kingdom and Europe as a soloist on electric trumpet with an Anglo-American orchestra led by American composer George Russell. Old Heartland was recorded with the Kreisler String Orchestra in 1988 while Sounds and Sweet Airs was recorded with organist John Taylor in 1992. (Source: AMG)

This album contains no booklet.