Ray Warleigh at the BBC

It's time to do some more requests. In fact, I should actually spend more time doing requests, because it makes the whole selection process so much easier. This came from Olie who wanted a specific Ray Warleigh album which I unfortunately don't have. So, settling for the second best, here are two concerts recorded for the BBC with Ray Warleigh as a sideman.

Warleigh hasn't released much under his own name. His debut album was out in 1968, with sporadic releases throughout the 70s and then nothing up to this year's Rue Victor Massé, a duo recording with drummer Tony Marsh. The above pic is from an August 2008 concert with Marsh, courtesy of Sean Kelly at Flickr.

Most of his output has been as a sideman and the two concerts on offer here are no exceptions, the first led by Pat Smythe and the second by Alan Holdsworth.

Pat Smythe Quintet (with Allan Holdsworth)
BBC Broadcast
London 1980
presented by Peter Clayton

Pat Smythe - p
Ray Warleigh - as, fl
Allan Holdsworth - g
Chris Laurence - b
John Marshall - d

1. Letters of Marque 8.07
2. Announcer (Peter Clayton) 0.33
3. Reflection 5.56
3. Announcer 0.13
5. Out from Under 6.13
6. Announcer 0.25.
7. Steppes7.02


ALLAN HOLDSWORTH & CO.
" Jazz In Britain "
London, UK
January 8, 1980
presented by Charles Fox

1. Announcer Intro
2. The Things You See When You Haven't Got Your Gun
3. Every Little Breeze
4. Sunday
5. Announcer Closing Comments

Allan Holdsworth - Guitar
Gordon Beck - Piano
John O'Whey - Bass
Ray Warleigh - Alto & Soprano Saxophone
John Marshall - Drums

As for the line-up, a fairly well-known cast of characters with Warleigh, Holdsworth and Marshall the common denominators, regulars on the scene Pat Smythe and Gordon Beck on the piano chair and Chris Laurence and John O'Wey (less known to me) holding down the deep end.

Holdsworth has got a huge name in fusion, but on these dates, I don't sense any showoffy-ness typical of the genre, but two fine cohesive outfits where the individual contributions fit the whole. Composition duties are shared between Smythe and Holdsworth in the first set while all compositions are by Holdsworth for his own combo in the second set.

Fairly good sound on both sets, considering the time, but a bit of hiss on the second. It's always a delight to hear again the eminent jazz presenters Peter Clayton and Charles Fox, whose erudition never ceases to amaze.

I've got one Ray Warleigh as sideman in the offing, but have to do some vinyl transfer first, so stay tuned. It'll be slightly different from these two, but no less interesting for that.

As these are fairly short sets, they're both in lossless, but anyone is free to post mp3s in the comments section, should one so desire.