The Dedication Orchestra live in Crawley, UK, 1992

We have received a bundle of files from "psykies", initially uploaded to the Dime torrent site. They have in common that they were all recorded from radio, specifically jazz broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s. We plan to post these recordings in the time to come.

Starting from the top, as it were, this is the Dedication Orchestra from a concert at the Outside In Festival, The Hawth Centre, Crawley, England on September 5 1992. The Dedication Orhestra is a huge ensemble conceived as a tribute to the South Africans that made up the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath, expats coming to Europe in the mid-60s after realising that an interracial band was impossible to combine with living in apartheid South Africa.

No, we are not going to hear the cd pictured above, but we are going to hear what's on the cd. The concert is an exact replica of the tracks on the cd, played in the same sequence, too. The post came with no track listings, but after comparing the concert with the studio-recorded cd, what we hear is as follows:

1. Traumatic experience/Ithi Gqi
2. B my dear
3. Dancing Damon
4. Hug pine
5. Andromeda
6. Manje
7. Sonja/Introduction to you ain't gonna know me/You ain't gonna know me 'cause you think you know me
8. Woza/Traumatic experience (reprise)

Track separation differs a little from the cd, because some pieces run together.

Cast of characters:

Kenny Wheeler - trumpet, fluglehorn
Jim Dvorak - trumpet, fluglehorn
Lance Kelly - trumpet, fluglehorn
Claude Deppa - trumpet, fluglehorn
Radu Malfatti - trombone
Dave Amis - trombone
Paul Rutherford - trombone
Malcolm Griffiths - trombone
Dave Powell - tuba
Lol Coxhill - saxophone
Elton Dean - saxophone
Ray Warleigh - saxophone
Alan Skidmore - saxophone
Evan Parker - saxophone
Chris Biscoe - saxophone
Neil Metcalfe - flute
Django Bates - tenor horn
Keith Tippett - piano
Paul Rogers - bass
Louis Moholo - drums
Phil Minton - vocals
Francine Luce - vocals
Julie Tippetts - vocals

Enjoy!

DEDICATION ORCHESTRA - Birmingham. 2003

Louis Moholo - drums
Keith Tippett - piano
Paul Rogers - bass
Evan Parker, Larry Stabbins, Lol Coxhill, Ray Warleigh, Elton Dean, Chris Biscoe - saxes
Neil Metcalfe - flute
Harry Beckett, Henry Lowther, Jim Dvorak, Noel Langley - trumpets
Malcolm Griffiths, Paul Rutherford, Dave Amis, Alan Tomlinson - trombones
Mark Charig - tenor horn
Dave Powell - tuba
Julie Tippetts, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton, David Serame - voices
Steve Beresford - arranger and conductor

1. 08:43
2. 06:35
3. 11:15
4. 07:16
5. 05:00
6. 07:11
7. 08:55
8. 07:35
9. 10:02
10.02:17

Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham.  23 March 2003

BBC Radio 3 broadcast.

The Dedication Orchestra - Spirits Rejoice

Another request - from regular commentator Paul (the others will be coming, Paul) - this time an item which I believe to be OOP, it's not listed in the Ogun catalogue - the Dedication Orchestra's first cd (another was to follow two years later).

The Dedication Orchestra was/is committed to preserving the music of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath and their individual members. At the time of this release - 1992 - the only surviving member of the Blue Notes was Louis Moholo and he's on this recording. The remaining big band consists of players who had been in the Brotherhood of Breath or who had played with Blue Notes members or who in various way were part of the UK scene and were familiar with the music and the musicians.

Organised by Steve Beresford, the Orchestra is, one might say, a sort of Brotherhood commemoration project, and listening to these arrangements, they come across as more polished than what the originals sounded like, particularly when they were performed live, often veering into cacophonous collective improvisation and being brought back on track by the rock-solid rhythm section of McGregor, Miller and Moholo, but at all times, beautiful cacophony.

Those familar with the BoB will know what to expect and relive the memories from the old records, but hopefully, there may be some out there who may be introduced to the BoB by these faithful recreations.

The basic facts:

Ogun OGCD 101 Spirits rejoice

The Dedication Orchestra
Phil Minton, voice; Maggie Nicols, voice; Julie Tippetts, voice; Guy Barker, trumpet; Harry Beckett, trumpet; Claude Deppa, trumpet, voice; Jim Dvorak, trumpet, penny-whistle; Kenny Wheeler, trumpet; Django Bates, E-flat peckhorn; Dave Amis, trombone; Malcolm Grifiths, trombone; Radu Malfatti, trombone; Paul Rutherford, trombone; Dave Powell, tuba; Neil Metcalfe, flute; Lol Coxhill, soprano sax, tenor; Ray Warleigh, alto sax, flute; Elton Dean, alto sax; Evan Parker, tenor sax; Alan Skidmore, tenor sax; Chris Biscoe, baritone sax; Keith Tippett, piano; Paul Rogers, bass; Louis Moholo, drums, voice.

Traumatic experience [arranged by Keith Tippett] (04:15), Ithi gqi [arranged by Radu Malfatti] (11:18), B my dear [arranged by Kenny Wheeler] (07:44), Dancing damon [arranged by Keith Tippett] (04:09), Hug pine [arranged by Django Bates] (08:17), Andromeda [arranged by John Warren] (09:17), Manje [arranged by Mike Westbrook] (05:02), Sonja [arranged by Jim Dvorak] (07:41), Introduction to You ain't gonna know me (03:55), You ain't gonna know me 'cause you think you know me [arranged by Eddie Parker] (06:13), Woza (05:37).

Recorded at Gateway Studios, London, January 2 and 3, 1992.

Line producer Steve Beresford; post production Evan Parker and Steve Beresford.

Front cover painting (reproduced above) by Louis Maqhubela.

Dig in and dig it!