The complete Greek Variations, long! (23:55m)
Track List (ATOL Protected)
A1 Santorin
A2 Omonoia
A3 Delphi
A4 Kerkyra
A5 Meteora
A6 Kriti
B1 Wine Dark Lullaby
B2 Orpheus
B3 Persephone’s Jive
B4 Farewell Penelope
B5 Odysseus, King Of Ithaca
B6 Siren’s Song
B7 Veil Of Ino
“The first half of the album has composer Neil Ardley directing a fourteen-piece chamber orchestra featuring Rendell and Carr, a six-part suite based on a traditional Greek folk tune. The second half features a quintet led by Carr—Nucleus in all but name—and a quartet led by Rendell, on shorter suites maintaining a Greek flavour and ambience.” (Neil Ardley.com)
Apart from an impenetrable technical description on the back cover, there is no indication on the actual vinyl where each of the six variations start and finish, no track separator/divider grooves. Without track timings, its all guesswork, so I ripped the whole side.
Jeff Clyne, Neville Whitehead, bass; Jack Bruce, double bass, bass; John Marshall, Trevor Tomkins, drums; Barbara Thompson, flute, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Chris Spedding, guitar; Karl Jenkins, oboe, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone; Stan Robinson, tenor saxophone, flute, Brian Smith, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone ; Don Rendell, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto flute, clarinet Michael Gibbs, trombone; Ian Carr, trumpet, flugelhorn; Frank Ricotti, vibraphone, marimba, percussion;
String Section:
K. Essex; Viola; J. Rothstein, K. Isaacs, violins; A. Flemming C. Tunnell, cellos
Engineer, John Mackswith; recording supervised by Denis Preston
Described as Britain’s nearest thing to Gil Evans, composer and pianist Neil Ardley’s musical career was short-lived, only around four albums, including a second jazz orchestra album Symphony of Amaranths (1972), with many of the same musicians.
and a studio album, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows (1975) also issued in a live concert performance.
Apart from those brief few years as a musician, Ardley worked mainly as a writer, author of more than 100 popular books on natural history, science and technology, including the tense psychological thriller Guide to The Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1984).
Ardley passed away in 2004 at the age of 67.
Viewed from 1970 Britain, Greece was an exotic holiday destination of endless sunshine and beaches, and cheap booze. Musically, traditional folk played on bouzouki with clarinet, and men danced solo, emboldened by too much ouzo (I confess I’ve done it myself).
Greek Variations occupies all of Side 1, a Greek folk melody as the scene-setter, the anchor around which the jazz variations revolve.
Ian Carr and Don Rendell contribute familiar Carr-Rendell excursions: Rendell’s serpentine snakes and ladders, bursts of speed embedded in a flow of lyrical inventiveness; Carr’s warm expressive tone, some pieces echo Miles open landscapes. All mixed with Ardley’s European-classical symphonic sections. I think the compositions and performance are fabulous, though perhaps not one for the foot-tapping community.
Vinyl: 808400 Universal Music Group/Decca 2026 reissue of EMI SCX 6414 (1970).
No credits given for reissue pressing. I suspect I know why. There are a lot of clicks written permanently into the vinyl. I’m guessing metal parts were not uniformly clean, but dirty in patches, so the clicks are concentrated in those dirty parts, not in others parts which are quiet.
The pressing plant should have picked up the poor quality pressing, but looks like it had no effective quality control, or didn’t care. Whoever Decca contracted pressing to (“Made in the EU”) should be shown the door. Does Decca management care, or even know? I figured there was little point in returning the record as it is probably a batch fault, other copies would likely be the same. You may be lucky, a different batch. Disappointing job, Decca.
The lacquer has been mastered (no mentioned by whom) at quite low gain, common practice among today’s engineers. It is quiet, relies on you turning the playback volume up , resulting in worse signal-to-noise ratio.
The original recording is credited to John Mackswith, who was 22 years old at the time. His discography started out only a few years earlier, in 1966, mainly singers like Roger Whittaker- easy-listening ballads and folk songs- but includes two Neil Ardley albums, neither of which are great recordings. Lansdowne was one of London’s best studios (the magnificent Rendell Carr Quintet albums, among many others). This job is muddy, the soloists should be more forward, and the stereo potential is not realised.
Here’s the thing (as American’s like to say). The Greek Variations reissue is mastered from the original tapes, on 180gm vinyl, but not a great original recording, and a poor quality pressing. May be my audiophilia makes me too fussy. It’s a bugger isn’t it? You have to get all of it right, not just some of it.
Etchings close-up – likely Alex Gordon, Abbey Road Studios
Insert – Notes by Tony Higgins
Art Director, my office, NOW! What is this . . so-called “cover art”, drawing by someone called Bruce Rollin. Never heard of him. Is that supposed to be Greek food? Look. We need something that will appeal to the bachelor demographic, like chicks in a bikini, maybe chicks in a bikini in a sports car. See what Verve did for Dizzy: Greek Doric columns, sunshine and shades, and . . . typical Greek men’s streetwear. Dizzy In Greece, ok, no chicks, but that’s one cool cover.”
Harry’s been cruising the time zones again, a bumper crop of pictures of the Carr-Rendell team in action, from our resident jazz-paparazzi, Harry M.
Ian Carr Montreux 1970
Don Rendell Sunbury 1968
Karl Jenkins Montreux 1970
John Marshall Montreux 1970
Brian Smith Jazz Expo 1970
Chris Spedding Montreux 1970
Jeff Clyne Jazz Expo 1970
The Original Tapes! Wonderful!
Collector Notes: EMI Columbia Magic Notes original issue 1970 , rare as hen’s teeth and outrageously expensive. One copy of archival quality is currently available on Discogs at just short of £2,000.
Our friends in Tokyo managed a release in 1972, titled unfortunately EEK VARIATIONS – GR is obscured by the obi. A good alternative for collectors.
Russian bootleggers offered an unofficial release of Greek Variations on the “Endless Happiness” label in 2024. Source? Could be anything, an MP3.
Decca management are sitting on a treasure trove of 1960-70’s British Jazz, but have been dragging their feet with the British Jazz Explosion Series. Senior management seem to show little interest in jazz, currently probably worrying about which two “jazz” albums to release for Christmas (Gregory Porter and Samira Joy again?)
But finally, they have issued this remastered edition of Greek Variations, complete with original Tony Higgins notes. It’s a flawed production, but ultimately, I love the music, which is what really matters, isn’t it?
LJC (music blogger, influencer, and vinyl cover art critic. No Only Fans)
