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"….Some Echoes, Some Shadows…"
With four of the seven tracks on his April 1970 self-titled debut album dedicated to his Giants of Jazz – John Dankworth, Stan Getz, Bob Moses and Gary Burton – Rhodesian Trombonist, Composer, Arranger and Producer MICHAEL GIBBS was nailing his Avant Garde colours to the Prog-Fusion mast right out of the gate. Throw in a little New Orleans Big Band, Spacey Jazz-Funk, Acid-Rock flourishes and long noodling instrumental passages – and we are off to the Deram Records races.
Both his April 1970 "Michael Gibbs" starter and the August 1971 follow-up "Tanglewood 63" contained a huge list of contemporary contributions – any musician who was anyone in the Fusion fields of the day seemed to be on those albums (see Musician credits below). Gibbs would also go on to be a part of Brit Prog Rockers Uriah Heep (Orchestral Arrangements) as they started out on their Very Heavy Very Humble Vertigo and Bronze Records journey in 1970, 1971 and 1972.
So up steps England's BGO (Beat Goes On Records) to give us panting punters a spivvy twofer that gathers both of those pricey originals into one presentational goody bag. While the music is absolutely an acquired taste and will make your daughter cringe at Daddy and his way-out Jazz choices – those grey-haired fooltards like me be thinking – yesterday's echoes and shadows – oh yummy. So, once more my pelicans of perinatal pleasure to the reissue breach - here are the Maidens of the Liturgies, Canticles and Throbs (and that's just their piccolo trumpets)…
UK released Friday, 3 October 2025 - "Michael Gibbs/Tanglewood 63" by MICHAEL GIBBS on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1559 (Barcode 5017261215598) is a compilation that offers 2LPs from 1970 and 1971 on Deram Records in Stereo Remastered onto 2CDs and it plays out as follows:
CD1 (52:43 minutes):
1. Family Joy, Oh Boy! (8:53 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Some Echoes, Some Shadows (for John Dankworth) (9:01 minutes)
3. Liturgy/Feelings And Things (8:28 minutes)
4. Sweet Rain (for Stan Getz) (6:16 minutes) [Side 2]
5. Nowhere (for Bob Moses) (7:59 minutes)
6. Throb (3:55 minutes)
7. And On The Third Day (for Gary Burton) (8:04 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 7 are his debut album "Michael Gibbs" – released April 1970 in the UK on Deram DML 1063 in Mono and Deram SML 1063 in Stereo (Deram DS 18048 in Stereo only in the USA) – the STEREO Mix is used.
Produced by PETER EDEN with all compositions by MICHAEL GIBBS – Guests Included Chris Spedding on Guitars and Bass, Ray Russell of Rock Workshop and Philip Lee of Gilgamesh on Guitars, Jack Bruce of Cream and Brian Odgers of Sweet Thursday on Basses, Mick Pine of Tubby Hayes Quartet and Bob Cornford of Alan Skidmore Quartet on Keyboards, Saxophonist and Flautist Barbara Thompson of Colosseum, John Surman of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Ray Warleigh of Soft Machine and Alan Skidmore on Saxophones with Kenny Wheeler, Henry Lowther of Keith Tippett's Ark and Ian Hamer of Ginger Baker & Friends on Trumpets and Flugelhorns, Bobby Lamb of Woody Herman's Band on Trombone, Brass by Derek Watkins, John Wilbraham of the BBC Orchestra on Trumpet, Tony Oxley on Drums with Frank Ricotti on Percussion (and many more).
CD2 (44:05 minutes):
1.Tanglewood 63 [Side 1]
2. Fanfare
3. Sojourn
4. Canticle [Side 2]
5. Five For England
Tracks 1 to 5 are his second album "Tanglewood 63" – released August 1971 on Deram Records SML 1087 in Stereo (no US issue). Produced by PETER EDEN with all compositions written by MICHAEL GIBBS – the musician line-up mimics the debut (Chris Spedding, Alan Skidmore, Henry Lowther, John Surman etc) as well as input from Pianist Gordon Beck of Nucleus and Keyboardist John Taylor of John Surman Quartet and Azimuth, Stan Sulzman on Soprano Saxophone, Frank Alexander and Allen Ford on Cello, Geff Wakefield on Violin, Frank Ricotti on Percussion, Tony Robbins on Tenor Saxophone - along with others.
The card-slipcase lends the 2CD compilation a classy look and feel – the 16-page booklet featuring new liner notes from Mojo Jazz Contributor CHARLES WARING (dated 2025). You get the rear artwork on the inner pages and a huge array of info on the Sailsbury born Rhodesian musician (now Harare in Zimbabwe). As an arranger and musical director, Michael Clement Gibbs has worked with artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Uriah Heep, Whitney Houston and not surprisingly (given his rather impish tendencies) British Comedians turned songsters – The Goodies. Waring is a Jazz buff and his deep knowledge/enthusiasm comes screaming off the story – Waring talks of the wild genre fluctuations that peep in and out of Free Jazz like this - Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock, Big Band, Prog, Avant Garde, Percussion battles and so on. He waxes lyrical too about Trumpeters like Harry Beckett, Pianist John Taylor and the huge ensembles for long spacey workouts like "Canticle" on "Tanglewood 63" or the chanteuse-wooing grooves in "Liturgy" on the debut which features a solo from guitarist Philip Lee later to be with Charisma Records band Gilgamesh. The ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters are clean and clear and reflect the truly excellent production values laid down back in the 1970 Morgan Studios day. This music gets complicated and crowded in a lot of places and yet the Remaster handles the clarity magnificently – this is big, bold, brassy and free – and yet the transfers feel alive and not cluttered or dead. To the many fusion soundscapes…
Cited as a celebration in the liner notes by Gibbs, "Family Joy, Oh Boy!" features five separate solos alongside Brass arrangements led by Derek Watkins. Chris Spedding – on loan from Harvest Records and Pete Brown and his Battered Ornaments – plays Guitar, Kenny Wheeler gives it some Trumpet, Alan Skidmore goes at his Tenor Saxophone, John Wilbraham lays down a Piccolo Trumpet passage and finally Dick Hart has a bash at a Tuba solo (of all things). Although it opens as a Blood, Sweat & Tears brass blaster – Spedding is soon going Jazz improv guns. Clocking in at 8:50 minutes, "Family Joy, Oh Boy!" is a beast of pace and tone changes. Way cooler and almost Lounge Lizard is "Liturgy" – the slinky groove suits fuzzed up guitars abutting cop-show brass jabs – you could almost image this in a San Francisco late 60s early 70s private eye shuffle – a sort of White Shaft (oh dear). Solo heroes are Chris Pyne on Trombone and heavy, heavy riffage from guitarist Philip Lee and huge in-the-pocket drum clashing from Tony Oxley. Even though it changes mood and tempo gear at about six-minutes, it slinks back into have-a-Martini territory soon enough and does so to its 9:01 minute closing. After the first two cuts of Free Form, the almost straight-up barroom smooze of "Feelings And Things" feels kind of like naff beret-Jazz – guests including Mick Pyne on Piano while Brian Odgers and Tony Oxley supply the rhythm section (Bass and Drums respectively).
Side 2 opens with a tribute to Stan Getz, "Sweet Rain" gives us up and down the scales (like raindrops) and mellow soloing from John Surman (Soprano Sax), Ray Warleigh on Alto Sax with Alan Skidmore on Trombone. "Nowhere" again gives us that B,S&T brass-blasting opening only to settle into a tinkling shimmer of cymbals and reed instruments for the Bob Moses tribute. In this almost eight-minute canter, you can hear Tubular Bells and Kevin Ayers and Terry Riley and even Santana three years after 1970 – all of it getting spacey before the big boys of brass come in to sort out the meandering. The shortest cut on the album is probably its most commercial – a pretty, melancholic cellos and guitar murmur calling itself "Throb" of all things. Fred Alexander and Alan Ford are on Cellos with gently strummed acoustics before Chris Spedding arrives just after two minutes with Electric Jazz Guitar licks. Continuing that strummed acoustic guitar bint, the 1979 debut LP ends with "And On The Third Day" for Gary Burton and features solos by Chris Pyne (Trombone), John Surman (Baritone Sax) with the trio of Alan Skidmore, Ray Warleigh and Mike Osbourne all joining in for the final melee. The sexy groove deviates as it meanders for its eight-minutes, pianos and brass puncturing the sashay (lovely John Surman solo at 4:02 minutes) - but always with cool musicianship that will entrance Jazz buffs and top quality production values brought to the fore by a quality Remaster.
Recorded in November and December 1970 (again in Morgan Studios in London) but not released until August 1971, Gibbs take his Trombone to Tanglewood U.S.A. for album number two (his last for Deram). Named after a music centre/musician learning facility in Lenox, Massachusetts where Gibbs had spent happy daze in 1963, you get more of the same spacey jams. Tipping its hat to a catchier (dare we say it) more commercially acceptable sound – the title track is piano-plinking Jazz mixed with Brass and Funky Rhythms. And again, gorgeous sound and clear instruments (dig that Bass run at 6:40 minutes before its goes into Chris Pyne, Henry Lowther and Tony Roberts on Trombones and Tenor Sax). Stan Sulzman blasts his Soprano Sax on the short but far too bombastic "Fanfare". Things become far more pleasant with the lazy drawn-out vibes of "Sojourn" – a shimmering piece that features Frank Alexander on Cello, John Surman on Soprano Saxophone with Alan Skidmore on Tenor Sax. The opening other-dimension majesty and ethereal musicality of "Canticle" is impressive and the audio - gorgeous. A lingering drone floats as Horns and Winds float in, out and over it – Tony Roberts guesting on Alto Flute, Alan Skidmore on Alto Flute and Soprano Sax, John Surman on Soprano Sax while Gordon Beck tinkers the Electric Piano. The problem is that at 13:04 minutes – it overstays its welcome (I still think it’s the coolest thing on the album). Finally, a guitar gets a chance to let rip on the LP closer "Five For England" – a free-wheeling vehicle for Chris Spedding and a huge array of Brass – not unlike Rumplestiltskin by Rumplestiltskin on Bell Records – another Funky-As-F instrumental you must check out. "Five For England" ends "Tanglewood 63" on an up-note – but more importantly – Spedding and his flicking wah-wah guitar make it cool. And you can so hear why this album appeals to Funksters more than the debut.
For damn sure in 2025 and 2026 – this kind of Free Form Jazz Fusion mixed in with Funk and Space and Acid Head Trips will be seen as indulgence many can do without. But for those who worship at the tapping feet of such music, this Michael Gibbs BGO twofer will be bliss in a carbon-dated 2CD bottle. Beat Goes On pops out a cool one…
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