If Promises has any value, it is in the work of Michael Garrick’s sidemen. Harriott is remarkably restrained for the most part, whilst Tony Coe contributes several moving tenor solos. Ian Garr is rather ineffectual and hesitant in his solos, whilst his sound which is thin and weak, does not help. Garrick’s compositions and piano work are pleasant and easy on the ear, but somewhat gutless.
It is hard to take Anthem (‘attempts to allow jazz to add a fresh dimension to what might be called sacred music’, according to Garrick’s liner note) seriously, particularly when Goode comes on with his Slam Stewart bowed bass-cum-voice act in the middle of Wedding Hymn. Whether this record makes it as church music, I don’t know; it certainly doesn’t make it as jazz. Both these records strike me as a complete waste of time and money, which is all the more infuriating when fine bands like Mike Westbrook’s continue to go unrecorded.
Discography
PROMISES
(a) Promises; (a) Parting Is Such; (b) I’ve Got Rhythm; (b) A Thing Of Beauty; (a) Merlin The Wizard (25½ min) – (a) Second Coming; (a) Requiem; (a) Leprechaun Leap; (a) Portrait Of A Young Lady; (b) Song By The Sea (25 min)
(Argo ZDA 36 / 32s. 2d.)
ANTHEM
(c) Anthem; (c) Wedding Hymn
(Argo ZFA / 11s. 5d.)
(a) Ian Carr (tpt/fgl-h); Joe Harriott (alt); Tony Coe (ten/clt); Michael Garrick (p); Coleridge Goode (bs); Colin Barnes (d). London, May 1965.
(b) Michael Garrick (p); Dave Green (bs); Colin Barnes (d). Same date.
(c) Shake Keane (tpt); Joe Harriott (alt); Simon Preston (org); Michael Garrick (p); Coleridge Goode (bs); Colin Barnes (d); The Elizabethan Singers.
