The re-press of Richard Morton Jack’s Labyrinth has just arrived from Lansdowne Books. If you have any interest in British Jazz from the '60s and first half of the '70s then this is a book that should be well worth having. It covers most every release, although I was slightly disappointed to see that William Russo and the London Jazz Orchestra’s Stonehenge LP was omitted, especially as this was part of the original Lansdowne series supervised by Denis Preston. However, don’t let that put you off, the rest is brilliant.
Well done Andy. These Lansdowne books tend to sell out quite quickly (I managed to miss the original press by not acting immediately the moment I saw it available), and I can’t really see them doing another re-press any time soon.
Just had a look through my copy - what a lovely book. Neither of the Russo/London Jazz Orchestra albums for Lansdowne gets a mention, both ‘Stonehenge’ and ‘Bill Russo in London’. Agree, definite oversight. Good that both Arman Ratips are in there. Some really mythic ones included - never seen or heard of that Keith Tippett(s) ‘demo’ record from 1966. The Howard Riley ‘Discussions’ is also mythic too, at 99 copies. The Ric Colbeck is pretty rare - don’t think it has ever been reissued on CD or vinyl. Fine album too.
Another very fine book covering much of the same period is Ian Carr’s ‘Music Outside’. Originally on Latimer Press but reprinted a few years ago.
In a way it’s a shame that the cutoff date wasn’t extended a bit to about 1980, which would have allowed for the inclusion of some excellent and important LPs from e.g. the Ogun catalogue.
Having said that, it would then be even more of a heavyweight tome than it already is. Volume 2 perhaps?
