Re-Releases

Guy Barker’s CD first released as an LP in 1989, was a part of the Miles Music back catalogue that cried out for resurrection. Well here it is. Re-mastered and a real find for fans of Guy’s. It’s available to the UK for just £9.50 including postage. Here’s some of what Mike Hennessey wrote when the original album was released:

"When you listen to 31-year old Guy on this album, you are hearing not only talent, technical command and commitment, but the product of nearly 20 years of trumpet-playing experience. You are also hearing a highly positive answer to the age-old question of why the best European jazz musicians don’t measure up to the best American players. It may once have been true – but no longer. I would defy anyone in a blindfold test to determine whether the five musicians on this date come from Neasden or New York."

When John Miles asked Guy to put together a quintet for this recording, he decided to …..hire musicians he did not normally work with..

"I chose Nigel Hitchcock, whom I’d heard with NYJO, because he is an amazing musician….he plays with fantastic assurance, Jason I had heard on record – we’d never played together before. He’s a brilliant pianist. And Chris Laurence is a marvellous bassist – I’ve worked with him many times on sessions."

"I just had to have Clark on drums – I love the way he plays and, as we work together all the time, we have a good rapport. We know each other’s playing really well."

On three of the tracks the quintet becomes a sextet with the addition of vibist Frank Ricotti, whom Guy describes as:

"a fantastic musician and composer that I have tremendous respect for."

For a band which has never worked previously as a unit, the performances on this album, completed in just one and a half days, are quite remarkable for their cohesion, the relaxed compatibility of the musicians, and the range, technical resourcefulness and emotional intensity of the solo work.

This is an album of tremendous style and maturity for Guy Barker. He and his musical associates provide abundant testimony that Britain is now producing jazz musicians of world class with their own particular story to tell.