Wheeler, Kenny - Windmill Tilter CD
SKU
28-BGO6120944.2
One of the hardest to find holly grails of Brit-jazz makes its very first appearance on CD in this excellently packaged and remastered set from BGO. Check out this personnel: Kenny Wheeler: flugelhorn; Derek Watkins: trumpet; Henry Shaw: trumpet; Henry Lowther: trumpet; Les Condon: trumpet; Chris Pyne: trombone; Mike Gibbs: trombone; John Dankworth: saxophone; Ray Swinfield: saxophone; Tony Robert: saxophone; Tony Coe: saxophone; Alf Reece: tuba; Dick Hart: tuba; Bob Corford: piano; Alan Branscome: piano; John McLaughlin: guitar; Dave Holland: bass; John Spooner: drums; Tristan Fry: percussion.
"It's easy to forget how long Canadian-born Kenny Wheeler has been making music. This, the first of his infrequent large ensemble recordings, was originally released back in 1969, and some thirteen years prior to that he was working in the quintet of baritone saxophonist Buddy Featherstonhaugh. Windmill Tilter offers the best of both worlds: not only is there Wheeler's highly distinctive writing for large ensemble, but there are a couple of quintet tracks, featuring Wheeler in the company of tenor saxophonist Tony Coe—a stylist as distinctive as anyone out there.... Wheeler again turns in a solo as quietly compelling as anything he's ever done, also highlighting how he never seems to be a man in a hurry. As a consequence, what he has to say comes out stimulating and ripe. But ultimately, this is one of those releases that transcends the ample qualities of the music because, along with something like Tubby Hayes's Mexican Green (Universal, 1967), it highlights how British jazz—or, perhaps, that should be Commonwealth jazz, given Wheeler's Canadian origin—came of age at a time when such a development didn't seem like a foregone conclusion. Graham Collier was forging his identity at the same time too, which only goes to show how long it is since jazz became an international language, especially in view of the decades prior to that time in which it was also taking place."-Nic Jones/AllAboutJazz.com