Exclusive preview: Harry Beckett’s Still Happy set for vinyl and digital release
Thursday, April 14, 2016
A cracking unreleased live session, originally recorded in 1974 for the BBC Radio 2 show Jazz Club, by late great Brit-jazz trumpeter Harry Beckett is to be issued on vinyl for the first time.
Released on 13 May on My Only Desire Records, Still Happy features Beckett’s twin saxophone line-up of Alan Wakeman on tenor and Don Weller on soprano, alongside Brian Miller on electric piano, Paul Hart on electric bass, John Webb on drums and Robin Jones on percussion. Capturing a full-on slice of the emerging jazz-rock sounds of the time, with driving funk basslines and Beckett’s lyrical yet probing trumpet, two songs on the LP are radically reworked versions of tracks that appeared on his 1975 album, Joy Unlimited, while the title track has has never been released in any format until now.
Featuring ‘No Time For Hello’, ‘Still Happy’ and an epic 14-minute ‘Bracelets of Sound’, the LP comes with liner notes by Jazzwise and Wire writer Daniel Spicer, who notes of the trumpeter’s performance on the title track: “Beckett’s solo, which comes hurtling out of the opening head, offers as good a summation of his musical personality as you’re likely to find: impossibly hip, irrepressibly swinging and bursting with joy.” Beckett had moved to Britain from Barbados in the 1950s and soon began working with many of the leading UK players of the time including Graham Collier, John Surman, Mike Osbourne, Stan Tracey, Mike Westbrook, and Chris McGregor among others. Releasing his debut album Flare Up in 1970, his career spanned five decades and saw him work with seminal artists such as David Sylvian and Working Week, and latterly Jah Wobble and Adrian Sherwood – remaining active until his death aged 75 in July 2010.
– Mike Flynn
Still Happy will be available as a limited edition pressing of 500 copies - the album can be pre-ordered here – for more info visit www.myonlydesirerecords.com
Exclusive stream of the album below: