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Neil
Ardley - introduction
by Peter Muir
Researching notes for 'Impressed with Gilles Peterson Vol. 2 - Rare,
Classic & Unique British Modern Jazz 1963' (1971), BBC presenter
Peterson decided that Neil Ardley would be a perfect choice to provide
some introductory words 'to give context, substance and insight to a
period that saw British modern jazz in transition'.
Neil
was an important link between many of the musicians featured on the
album in addition to being responsible for some of the tracks included.
Neil died on February 23rd 2004; his notes never completed. Peterson
dedicated the album to him.
News of
the death of Neil Ardley at the age of 66 years came for many as a bolt
from the blue, encountered abruptly in the fullsome obituaries that
appeared in the national newspapers with enormous black and white
photographs of Neil, conducting away, sometime back in the 1970s,
someplace.
Neil
had grown accustomed to the lack of recognition accorded his substantial
contribution to British modern jazz. Happily, he had developed a
parallel career in publishing and later as a successful author.
He is
best remembered for his pioneering work with 'jazz orchestra', notably
the New Jazz Orchestra (NJO), whose first album, 'Western Reunion'
(1965), opened the door to his distinctive sound, most famously observed
on his fabulous “Shades Of Blue”.
That
door was opened wider when Neil met independent producer Denis Preston -
'a rare Diaghilev-like figure' as Neil observed.
Preston
owned Lansdowne Studios in London and had been recording popular jazz
artists, such as Acker Bilk and Chris Barber, for the Record Supervision
and Lansdowne Series (recordings themselves being reissued for the first
time by specialists such as Lake Records).
Preston, a bridge between
'trad' jazz and an emerging rock variant, warmed to Ardley and proved
the cornerstone of a series of ground-breaking album releases.
He
offered his professional and financial support in future recording
ventures and under his wing Neil composed his first full-length works in
a style that combined classical methods of composition, with returning
themes in a framework that was European yet essentially English pastoral
in treatment.
As John
L Walters wrote in a Guardian newspaper obituary for Neil: “He had an
idiosyncratic ear for orchestral colour, a classical composer's ability
to create long, through-composed pieces from a handful of motifs and a
jazz bandleader's ability to write for specific personalities.”
'The
Greek Variations' (1969) - based on a folk tune - and 'A Symphony Of
Amaranths' (1971) - with settings of poems by Yeats, Joyce and Carroll,
and a version of Edward Lear's Dong With The Luminous Nose, recited by
Ivor Cutler - featured strings, orchestral woodwind and harp.
Key
contributions came from the likes of trumpeter Ian Carr, drummer Jon
Hiseman, saxophonists Barbara Thomson, Dave Gelly and Don Rendell and
vibraphonist Frank Ricotti.
The two
albums were part of a trilogy completed by 'Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows'
(1976), composed between 1973 and 1975 as a seven-part work for jazz
orchestra and performed by an augmented version of Ian Carr's band
Nucleus.
Neil
had been commissioned in 1974 by the London Borough of Camden to write a
new work to mark the first major jazz festival in the UK for many years.
It was held at the Roundhouse in London in October of that year. He had
decided to extend the ideas worked out in the previous two albums to
complete the trilogy.
'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows' toured England the following year under the
auspices of the Contemporary Music Network of the Arts Council and
became its most successful attraction. A final concert before a packed
house at the Royal Festival Hall was so well received that Gull Records
decided to record and release Neil's creation.
Neil
was to record again - 'Harmony of the Spheres' in 1979 - but thereafter
his output was diminished by market forces out of kilter with both the
genre and the cost of making such ambitious recordings.
However, his career as a writer now safely underway, Neil focussed on
the literary life with children's publisher Dorling Kindersley and is
best remembered in these circles for his award-winning The Way Things
Work, which sold 3 million copies worldwide.
By the
time he retired in 2000, Neil had written over 100 books with total
sales of some 10 million copies.
His
growing interest in electronic music evidenced in 'Harmony Of the
Spheres' evolved into with the electronic jazz group Zyklus, combining
improvisation with electronic methods of composition.
In 2002, Neil toured a
revised version of 'Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows' with a performance at the
Purcell Rooms in London with Jon Hiseman and other jazz luminaries. His
last jazz composition was 'On The Four Winds', performed for Radio Three
by New Perspectives in 1995.
His
later interest in choral music led also to the composition of Creation
Mass (2001), a setting of 11 poems by long-term collaborator Patrick
Huddie, and what was to prove to be his last recording.
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