Dick Morrissey Quartet There and Then and Sounding Great BBC Sessions ’67 CD (Offers)

DescriptionMorrissey’s fine playing makes this a set worth exploring. Scott Yanow LA Jazz SceneStraight ahead jazz of great character and vision. Simon SpillettMore rescued BBC broadcasts and more reasons to applaud this label, which has become something of a home from home for retrieved British jazz of the 60s. Peter Vacher JazzwiseLong 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.RANDB074