MORRISSEY, DICK (QUARTET)
THERE AND THEN AND SOUNDING GREAT (1967 BBC SESSIONS) (RHYTHM AND BLUES)
Long before he carved his dual legend as both popular jazz-funkster and the ultimate peripatetic guest soloist, beloved by fusion and straight-ahead fans alike, tenor saxophonist Dick Morrissey had been one of the UK's brightest and best modern jazzmen.
During the 1960s his regular quartet explored very nearly every aspect of the jazz genre, from down home blues to the fringes of the avant-garde, as is displayed in these previously unreleased radio recordings from 1967.
Over two fascinating sets drawing in compositions by fellow tenors Hank Mobley, Joe Henderson and Tubby Hayes, Morrissey is heard at his most daring, playing with a commitment and abandon that is frequently revelatory and always electrifying.
BBC Paris Theatre, London, June 11th 1967 & BBC Playhouse Theatre, London, October 18th 1967.
Dick Morrissey (tenor saxophone); Harry South (piano); Phil Bates (bass): Bill Eyden (drums), Introduced by Humphrey Lyttelton.
12 page booklet by Simon Spillett.