A belated Happy New Year to all of my readers. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday period and that the new year has started off great.
Beautiful album here from British duo Don Rendell and Ian Carr. I hadn’t heard anything from these two cats before I saw a Instagram post of this album from the record store Vinylspot in the Netherlands and decided to sample it on Spotify. I was immediately hooked and decided to jump on the opportunity to acquire this rare gem. Not cheap by any means, but I had understood after looking it up that it was very rare. Didn’t want to miss out on it and I had the funds available so I didn’t hesitate.
The album contains some beautiful music, some up-tempo stuff as well as some lovely moody and perceptive stuff, which I love. Great musicianship. It’s these more moody tunes that stand out for me. Favorite two tunes at this point are “Prayer” and the title track “Dusk Fire”. Both are penned by pianist Michael Garrick, which makes me want to explore his other stuff for sure. “Prayer” is a beautiful tune. Such wonderful melodies presented in different passages and moods. The title track has that darker, shimmering vibe which I find extremely appealing. A vibe like Pete La Roca’s magnificent album “Basra” offers on a couple of tunes as well.
Don Rendell was a multi-instrumentalist, playing tenor and soprano saxes, flute and clarinet on this album. I must I say he sounds great on all of them. Ian Carr plays both trumpet and the more muffled flugelhorn. Wonderful player. The rest of the group consists of Dave Green on double bass, Michael Garrick on piano and Trevor Tomkin on drums. They all contribute some lovely stuff. The whole album is top notch and I would encourage anyone who haven’t heard it to check it out. Now I just need to check out some more stuff from these cats more in depth. Exciting!
If you have any thoughts on this album, please write away guys.
I hope you are all doing great and that you are enjoying your collections. Stay tuned for more vintage jazz vinyl coming up. Here’s to a great 2023. Cheers!