So Much, So Quickly: British Modern Jazz Pianists 1948-62

To those British jazzmen coming to terms with the Bebop revolution of the Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk during the late 1940s, there was one, hugely imposing barrier; harmony. The new, supersonic melodies and off-kilter rhythms were one thing but underpinning these and forming the very bedrock of the music was a very novel, very definite methodology, a new system of chordal building blocks that challenged the understanding of all but the most patient. Inevitably, it fell to the pianists – those with a map of keyboard harmony laid out before them – to try and discover just what were these new, at times mind-bogglingly complex routes towards the cutting edge. “So Much, So Quickly” charts the rise and development of British modern jazz piano during the 1940s, 50s and early 60s, charting a journey which moves from the hip stylings of the young George Shearing and Ralph Sharon through the classic Hard Bop of Terry Shannon, the wilful, unpredictable originality of Stan Tracey and onto the post-Bill Evans brilliance of Gordon Beck. Over 25 tracks, the music moves from bop to cool, from soul-jazz to free-improv and beyond, taking in the work of well-known names Dudley Moore, Victor Feldman and Harry South, together with rarities from such overlooked contributors as Damian Robinson, Stan Jones and Norman Stenfalt. Featuring a host of other famous British modern jazz icons – Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, Phil Seamen et al – this release also includes an extensive booklet essay by award-winning saxophonist Simon Spillett, period photographs and three previously unissued tracks.