DANIEL HUMAIR / GORDON BECK / RON MATHEWSON ‎– Morning! (Musica Records – MUS 3009 / LP-1975)

Label: Musica Records – MUS 3009

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: France / Released: 1975

Style: Modal, Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Fontana Studios in Milan, Italy in January 1972.

First recorded on label: Dire – FO 341 / Released 1972 / Country: Italy

Design – Studio Chouette

Photography By – Lucille Whan Humair

Composed By – Gordon Beck, Daniel Humair, Ron Mathewson

Producer – Alain Boucanus

Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): MPO MUS 3009 A

Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): MPO MUS 3009 B

         MORNING !

A1 - 1er Movement ............................................................................................... 12:10

A2 - 2e Movement .................................................................................................. 5:10

         (D. Humair / G. Beck / R. Mathewson)

         SUITE 5

B1 - 1er Movement ................................................................................................. 8:20

B2 - 2e Movement .................................................................................................. 5:45

B3 - 3e Movement .................................................................................................. 4:50

         (Gordon Beck)

GORDON BECK – piano

RON MATHEWSON – bass

DANIEL HUMAIR – drums, percussion

Originally recorded at Fontana Studios in Milan, Italy in January 1972 and subsequently released on the Italian Dire label on LP the same year. 

Recorded during a tour of Italy with Phil Woods, the European Rhythm Machine, consisting of Gordon Beck, Ron Mathewson and Daniel Humair, recorded this entire album in the course of one morning. The album features two long compositions; on the first page of vinyl "Morning!", composed by Gordon Beck, Ron Mathewson and Daniel Humair performed in two movements and on the other side "Suite 5", composed by Gordon Beck performed in three movements followed by the track.

Easily overlooked as a piece of obscure 1970s Britjazz nostalgia, and short and sweet at 36 minutes, this is an Italian recording of two suites that pianist Gordon Beck conceived with bassist Ron Mathewson and drummer Daniel Humair in 1972. It is short, but far from insubstantial.

The propulsive rhythm section of what at that time constituted the Phil Woods Rhythm Machine gets two extended workouts, all recorded in one morning while on a European tour. It would be fine to cite the Bill Evans primer as a major influence on Beck, but it would be selling him short. The breadth and diversity of ground covered in this session is astounding, from gorgeous postbopflurry to sparse and razor-sharp post-Webernianpointalistic free jazz. None of this should come as any surprise, Beck having worked previously with the incredible and irrepressible timbral powerhouse Tony Oxley. In other hands, such forays into experimentation might come off as mere flirtations, but the trio is obviously so comfortable with every gesture, composed or otherwise, that the album coheres beautifully and seamlessly.

In the first track "Morning!" Humair takes a driving solo that quickly turns funky and everyone follows suit with alacrity. Morning sometimes sounds like Herbie Hancock baiting Tony Williams in Miles's 1960s band before it becomes an astonishing collective improvisation, Beck's steel-hard chords calling and responding to Humair's chattering snare and lashing rimshots.

Suite 5 reflects Beck's immensely sophisticated grasp of the alternative implications of Bill Evans - his faultless timing of the turn of a fast phrase is always startling, and there's an unexpected amount of free-improv. About half way through the track, when freer terrain is traveled, Daniel Humairs brushwork is complemented beautifully by Ron Mathewsons effortless fast slides and runs on bass. Eventually, Beck can be found inside the piano, Humair and Mathewson bowing and scraping along with him. But there's a wide span leading from piano-led tunes, recognisably from the same pen as those on "Gyroscope", to free group improvisations that are exciting but not wild.

Review by MARC MEDWIN, All About Jazz, New York

If you find it, buy this album!