Mike Osborne at the BBC 1980

When something like this turns up, it goes right to the top of the queue. This is a set of two broadcasts from the BBC in 1980.

The facts:

(1)

Mike Osborne Quartet

Jazz In Britain, BBC radio, 19th May 1980

Mike Osborne (as), Dave Holdsworth (tpt, fglh), Paul Bridge (b), Tony Marsh (d)

1. Snow Blindness
2. That's It!
3. Younis
4. radio outro

(2)

Mike Osborne Quartet

BBC Jazz Club, 1st June 1980


Mike Osborne (as), Dave Holdsworth (tpt, fglh), Paul Bridge (b), Andy Rosner (d)

1. Making Ends Meet
2. radio announcer
3. New Waltz
4. radio announcer
5. Straight Jack
6. radio outro

The presenter of the first broadcast was Charles Fox (as can be heard) and of the second, Peter Clayton, both of them regular BBC jazz presenters at the time and both, alas, deceased. And so is Mike Osborne.

Here's a reminiscence from his partner on these dates, taken from the inner sleeve of the cd reissue of two Ogun Osborne releases, Dave Holdsworth:

I played numerous gigs with Mike between the mid 1960s and 1982. My lasting impression is of music and performance of total integrity, searing passion, risk-taking and improbable tempos. I suspect that the music was as challenging for the listener as for the musicians. On every gig each tune was played with the same sense of urgency and surprise as when it had been first encountered. Verbal direction from Mike was virtually non-existent - you relied on your musical wits and what you had learned from playing with him over the years. Having recently transcribed many of his compositions from tapes of old broadcasts, I found that Mike's idiosyncratic concept of time and phrasing often resulted in complex notation which is difficult to read, whilst to the ears the tunes are readily accessible and easy to remember.

Another quote, from Charles Fox, from the same source:

Identity is at the heart of jazz; the way a musician is recognisably the same person from start to finish of his career, despite going through different phases, evolving different techniques. In a perfect world no good jazz player would ever be required to carry a passport, only to blow a handful of notes.

Recorded from radio onto cassette tape by "aw4". Pic above courtesy of Ogun records.

RIP Mike.