Bridget John

Bridget St. John's final album fell somewhere between vintage British folk-rock and the kind of singer/songwriter approach used by Phoebe Snow or early Joni Mitchell. A low-key, agreeable affair of sophisticated romantic ruminations, although not compelling.
English singer/songwriter Bridget St. John was one of the leading lights of the British folk scene of the late '60s and early '70s, a gifted vocalist and guitarist who also wrote intelligent, impressionistic songs. After an especially active early run that produced classic albums like her psych-tinged 1971 set Songs for the Gentle Man, St. John moved to New York and all but vanished from public performance for over 20 years, re-emerging in the mid-'90s with sporadic concert appearances.

London Early Opera continue their programme themed around a typical evening’s entertainment at the 17th & 18th century Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, with a second collection of works by George Frideric Handel and contemporary composers of the day (John Stanley, Thomas Gladwin, John Lampe and Johann Adolph Hasse). Featuring performances by soloists Claire Bessent, Mary Bevan, Benjamin Bevan, Eleanor Dennis, Charles MacDougale, Nicky Spence and Greg Tassell, the programme evokes the carnival of music and entertainments that amused visitors in these London gardens for nearly 200 years.

Bridget Cunningham marks St Patrick’s Day with a new harpsichord CD that gives a glimpse into Handel’s fascinating time in Dublin. In 1741 at the age of 56, following a financially difficult time in London and with fashions turning against Italian opera, Handel went to Dublin for 9 months – a thriving musical city and the 2nd largest in the British Isles after London. The story of this fascinating trip is told in both music and detailed accompanying notes by harpsichordist and musicologist Bridget Cunningham. This disc is part of Cunningham’s ongoing series with the ensemble London Early Opera, which has already seen releases of several volumes of Handel’s music, including Handel in Italy and Handel at Vauxhall.

This comprehensive Bridget St. John box set includes the three sensational albums recorded for Peel’s Dandelion label, plus live recordings and recordings made for the BBC between 1968 and 1972.

An unlikely but fortunate meeting of two avant-jazz heavyweights came about in the early 1970s during an extended holiday trip to London made by trumpeter Bobby Bradford. Arranging an impromptu session with drummer John Stevens (a founding father of British free improvisation) and his group, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Bradford appeared on two classic volumes for the Nessa label. The two complementary sets are reissued here under the slightly confusing title (given the name of the Stevens-led group) Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Bradford here is in excellent company and sounds more forceful than on his typically reserved contributions for clarinetist John Carter…