Given Kenny Wheeler's reputation on two continents, it is suprising that his two initial efforts as a leader remain out-of-print and mostly out-of-sight. Wheeler, eminence grisé of the trumpet and its more subtle cousin, had a mellifluous tone and restrained attack that made him an in-demand musician for British hard- and post-bop performers such as Johnny Dankworth. He was also flexible enough to see something in the John Stevens circle of free improvisation and become a member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Wheeler was the rare musician to travel freely within the many circles of Brit jazz of the time (they all seemed to be trumpeters - Wheeler, Harry Beckett, Marc Charig) and was involved in the majority of large ensemble work going on in Europe at the time.
This big band experience led to his two first albums, Windmill Tilter (Fontana) and Song for Someone (Incus). The Fontana album featured his old boss Dankworth and his orchestra as well as young Brit lions Dave Holland and John McLaughlin in early appearances. The material is inspired by the story of Don Quixote and set the standard of melody-heavy big band writing that Wheeler continues to this day.
Song for Someone is a different animal. Recorded in 1973, some five years after Windmill Tilter, Wheeler's choice of sidemen marked the shift in British music away from somewhat derivative bop to something more uniquely British: the addition of flamethrower Mike Osborne on alto and Derek Bailey on guitar; Malcolm Griffiths replacing Jim Wilson bass trombone; Tony Oxley instead of John Spooner on drums; Evan Parker replacing the venerable Dankworth as one of the tenors. There are a few holdovers from the previous session: Alan Branscombe (piano), Chris Pyne (trombone) and Alfie Reece (tuba). Song for Someone, as the name implies, is also Wheeler's first use of a vocalist, in this case his future long-time collaborator Norma Winstone, a practice he still follows (Luciana Souza as the latest songbird).
Moreover, the label that released this album, Incus, was very different from the establishmentarian Fontana. Founded by Messrs. Bailey, Oxley and Parker, it was, along with bassist Harry Miller's Ogun label, the place to find progressive British jazz and improvised music. Parts of the label's early work is out of print. Evan Parker's psi, distributed by Emanem (responsible for reissuing much Incus' catalogue), has resuscitated some of it, Song for Someone being the latest.
The album sleeve includes some small notes by Wheeler. The most telling is "…the thought of the musicians came first and then the music." This sums up the album - while it is satisfying, it is also a little patchwork. Wheeler's style here, idyllic and graceful, is choppier than listeners of his later work would expect, mainly because he was trying to write large-format thematic work for musicians who may never have played together and represented different parts of the British jazz spectrum.
The opening "Toot Toot" is just that - an unremarkable big band chart, too short to go anywhere, and occasionally bordering on cheesy. "Ballad Two" is much more prototypical Wheeler, quite similar to some of the music he is composing today. Duncan Lamont, the lone tenor appearing on the whole album (an obscure Brit showing up in various large orchestras), contributes a moving solo that heightens the emotional content of the piece.
The title track is another languorous ballad colored by Winstone's ethereal vocals. The last number on what was side one is "Causes and Events," more emblematic Wheeler writing until Evan Parker (he appears on only two tracks) comes in with a jarring jagged solo on soprano in tandem with Oxley's drums. The segment seems out of place, as if one of Oxley's albums for CBS or RCA was mixed in by an enterprising DJ. The theme returns after this interlude. "The Good Doctor" may be one of the stranger entries in the Britjazz canon. The longest piece on the album, it begins with the full band backing up Derek Bailey. This is not the music found in Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra, in which Bailey's fractured style fit perfectly. Rather it is Bailey being Bailey and Wheeler's band playing straight – a confusing but fun contrast. Parker then wails on tenor over Bailey but the band is undaunted, continuing to add their textures with Wheeler's trumpet playing a restrained lead. The song is oddly satisfying, not surprisingly, because of a long solo, then duet with Oxley, by Mike Osborne, Britain's Charlie Parker. After the band swings back in, the music suddenly transitions to Bailey and Parker, with Oxley in tow, for a brief foray into the first Incus release Topography of the Lungs. The song gains momentum before ending in a loud fanfare. The final piece is another ballad with lyrics by Winstone (her contributions up to this point had been avant scat). After the breadth of "The Good Doctor," "Nothing Changes" is either anticlimactic or settling. Either way, Song for Singing is a period piece. This orchestra and many of the players would never be together again, and Wheeler turned away from the avant garde to greener, calmer pastures.
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