Alan Skidmore - A Supreme Love [6CD box set + 20 page booklet]

Confront Recordings

£34.18

Format: 6CD box set + 20 page booklet
Catalogue No.: CORE33
Barcode: 5060446128084
Release Date: 07 Jul 2023
Genre: Jazz

How do you represent a seven-decade career in only six CDs? In our favour, Alan Skidmore’s vast private archive: from every stage of his professional life, there are radio, concert, and studio recordings surviving in very good order. But what to leave out? We begin in 1961, with Skid’s radio debut, playing with his father Jimmy. He was just 19. This was the year he witnessed John Coltrane’s famed appearance in Walthamstow. Coltrane’s impact was immediate, and Skid’s love and respect for him has lasted a lifetime. Throughout the recordings, we hear how Skid absorbs Coltrane’s music and transforms it into his own. With just a handful of exceptions, the tracks in this box are previously unreleased. They include collaborations with some of Skid’s most talented contemporaries. You’ll hear him with Alexis Korner, Humphrey Lyttelton, Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Tony Oxley, Wayne Shorter, Tony Levin, Paul Dunmall, Joe Zawinul, John Surman, Mike Osborne, John Taylor, Elvin Jones, Colin Towns, and many others. There is much to discover along the way, and Skid’s seriousness and respect for the music are obvious everywhere. Our journey concludes in 2019, with Skid’s beautiful - and only - rendition of Coltrane’s “Psalm” from A Love Supreme. A stunning finale to this crucial portfolio. - Mark Wastell