Wine Dark Deep

Neil Ardley, Ian Carr & Don Rendell - Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises (1969) {Columbia-Impressed/RePressed 986 689 9}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 311 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 111 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2004 Impressed/RePressed / Columbia / Universal | 986 689 9
Jazz / Post Bop / Experimental Big Band / Fusion / British Jazz

Another masterpiece of British jazz reissued on Universal's outstanding Impressed Re-pressed series, where it joins other long unavailable classics such as Amancio D'Silva's Integration , reviewed last month. Recorded in '69, Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises is irresistible on two counts. First, for its daringly conceived and brilliantly performed music, inspired by Greek folk songs and instrumental textures and deep enough to reveal all its treasures only after many repeated listenings. Second, for being recorded at the moment when the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet, a major force in British straight-ahead jazz since '62, had broken up and Carr's equally influential jazz-rock band Nucleus was rising from the ashes.

Originally released around the turn of the millennium, Musick to Play in the Dark featured a restarted Coil at bay, with original members John (later Jhonn) Balance (R.I.P.) and Peter Christopherson joined by synthesist/bassist Thighpaulsandra, and Drew McDowall (replaced by Rose McDowall on the second volume). These are long-form works, collections of mood pieces in several modes, and what’s interesting (and somewhat predictable) is that the patience displayed while shifting in between these modes creates a tension and space that feels… almost removed from music by a step, as if the performance decided to slowly back away from Coil at a respectful, totality-fearing distance (or maybe it was the psychic force of their music that pushed it all back)…