"Preparation": Richard Morton Jack edited a true masterpiece!

 

For a Mike Taylor's fan as I am, this is the true masterpiece one can wait for a life! This is an unrealised brand new record by the Mike Taylor Quartet taken from a rehearsal in 1965 at Mike's home, just before the recording of "Pendulum"!
A fabulous, gatefold cover vinyl with a booklet with photos and some revelations about Mike's life that gives new light on his first years...

 

The music is quite interesting because you can hear the work of preparation (a perfect title for this record!) of "Pendulum", the great interplay of musicians (Mike, Dave Tomlin, Jon Hiseman and Tony Reeves, who find this lost recording session in his archive), breathing this rare mood of humanity and friendship...

As Richard Morton Jack writes,

"The music on this release is the group's final rehearsal before the date, taped by Reeves in the music room in Mike's grandparent's home in Ealing.(...) The first three tracks were radical reworkings of the standards But Not For Me, Exactly Like You and A Night In Tunisia, while side two was reserved for Mike's compositions Pendulum, To Segovia and Leeway (...), which left plenty of room for improvisations. Restless and spiky though they may seem on first listening, there's plenty of melody in there too, and Mike's sheer to detail sets him apart from his contemporaries..."

A wonderful experience of listening for any jazz fan!