Rising Stars

Trunk Records, founded by vinyl collector in extremis Jonny Trunk, has continually reissued the weird, the arcane, and the rare in everything from library and soundtrack records to British jazz. That said, their 2007 re-release of Michael Garrick's impossibly hard to find 10" album Moonscape is a high point in its ever expanding catalog. In Rising Stars, Trunk pairs four tunes featuring Shake Keane from unreleased acetates in Garrick's private collection, and four from a 45 EP of a short-lived quartet featuring the pair, as well as bassist Cleridge Goode and drummer Bobby Orr, all recorded circa 1964. The first two tracks feature Keane's gorgeous flügelhorn fronting a rhythm section, and the Hastings Girls Choir conducted by Edmund Niblett. The title track is a moody piece of exotica, with Keane blowing mellifluously and bluesily atop hand percussion, a harp, and an electric organ simulating strings. "A Song of Romance" is simply "Blue Moon" with different lyrics; it's haunting and beautiful. The next two cuts feature Keane as a member of the Gordon Langford Orchestra. The most notable is "Bossa Nova Trieste," a killer bossa jam that Keane masters in his recitation of the melody and in his solo. It's a rare bit of British bossa from the period. The final four tracks — and real treasures — are from a 45 EP by the Shake Keane & Michael Garrick Quartette. Keane uses a mute throughout. On "Fish Babies," Garrick plays large, expanded chords in a swinging hard bop strutter. "Sun Maiden," a Garrick tune, has its roots in a Malaysian folk melody, and is both haunting and lyrical (31 years after being recorded here, Garrick and his big band performed it for the king of Malaysia). It doesn't so much swing as saunter quixotically. "Watershute" is a futuristic Garrick number with Keane playing a beautiful, straight-ahead lyric jazz akin to the American West Coast sound, while Garrick's piano offers a vanguard blues to counter. It swings breezily but feels angular. The final cut is a cover of Pat Smythe's "Regrets," a straight jazz-blues ballad with lovely flügelhorn work from Keane; even with a mute, his requisite warmth and deep lyricism contrast with Garrick's forward-looking harmonic invention; the two elements serve to complement one another extremely well. Only 27 minutes in length, Rising Stars is an historically fascinating and musically satisfying aural view of two British jazz giants at the beginning of their professional lives.