DIGBY FAIRWEATHER - Notes From a Jazz Life
Acrobat Music ADDCD 3322
Digby Fairweather (t&c) with amongst others:- Terry Pitts, Roy Williams, Pete Strange and Chris Gower (trmb), Danny Moss, John Barnes, Al Gay and Julian Marc Stringle (sax), Martin Litton, Fred Hunt, Craig Milverton and Stan Barker (p), Ike Issacs (g), Len Skeat, Ron Rubin and Pete Skivington (db)
I have been listening to and watching jazz for more years than I care to remember. A singular presence on the British jazz scene has been Digby Fairweather and seeing that he is in the band that you are listening to or watching is akin to putting on that favourite sweater, it is a comfortable feeling and you know you will entertained, not be let down and will leave with a smile on your face.
This innovative record label (Acrobat Music) has conspired with Digby to give him the opportunity to produce an ‘autobiographical retrospective of the recording career of the renowned British jazz cornetist’, and it does just what it says on the tin. Digby has done himself and us proud with his selections; recordings from 1971 through to 2012 are selected from duos to larger ensembles both live and in the studio and are a delight.
Digby’s choices are interesting and varied, the duos with Keith Ingham, Stan Barker and Fred Hunt are glorious, and the tracks with ‘Velvet’ are new to me and equally glorious. All in all it is a real cornucopia of Digby’s work over the past 40+ years and a sheer joy from start to finish.
Digby has written the liner notes himself (some 15 pages out of a hefty 28 page booklet) and they are very comprehensive and interesting and detail the periods in Digby’s life when the tracks were recorded. The title of his essay is ‘The Story So Far’, long may that story continue!
Acrobat Music doesn’t currently have a sales arm, but the 2CD, 33 track bargain can be currently bought from the online behemoth for under £9.
Reviewed by Clive Fleckner
Acrobat Music ADDCD 3322
Digby Fairweather (t&c) with amongst others:- Terry Pitts, Roy Williams, Pete Strange and Chris Gower (trmb), Danny Moss, John Barnes, Al Gay and Julian Marc Stringle (sax), Martin Litton, Fred Hunt, Craig Milverton and Stan Barker (p), Ike Issacs (g), Len Skeat, Ron Rubin and Pete Skivington (db)
I have been listening to and watching jazz for more years than I care to remember. A singular presence on the British jazz scene has been Digby Fairweather and seeing that he is in the band that you are listening to or watching is akin to putting on that favourite sweater, it is a comfortable feeling and you know you will entertained, not be let down and will leave with a smile on your face.
This innovative record label (Acrobat Music) has conspired with Digby to give him the opportunity to produce an ‘autobiographical retrospective of the recording career of the renowned British jazz cornetist’, and it does just what it says on the tin. Digby has done himself and us proud with his selections; recordings from 1971 through to 2012 are selected from duos to larger ensembles both live and in the studio and are a delight.
Digby’s choices are interesting and varied, the duos with Keith Ingham, Stan Barker and Fred Hunt are glorious, and the tracks with ‘Velvet’ are new to me and equally glorious. All in all it is a real cornucopia of Digby’s work over the past 40+ years and a sheer joy from start to finish.
Digby has written the liner notes himself (some 15 pages out of a hefty 28 page booklet) and they are very comprehensive and interesting and detail the periods in Digby’s life when the tracks were recorded. The title of his essay is ‘The Story So Far’, long may that story continue!
Acrobat Music doesn’t currently have a sales arm, but the 2CD, 33 track bargain can be currently bought from the online behemoth for under £9.
Reviewed by Clive Fleckner
