Artist: Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra
Title: Colin Towns' Mask Orchestra (2 x CD)
(re-released as Bolt From The Blue)
Record Label: THE JAZZ LABEL (PROVOCATEUR)
Catalogue No.: TJL001CD (PVC 1012)
Year: 1993
Track listing:
CD1
- Smack & Thistle (8.29)
- Music To Type To (6.03)
- Tears For A Traveller (11.17)
- A Sixpence Is A Long Shilling (6.14)
- A Dream Of Pain (3.24)
- Completely Lost (4.27)
- Not Waving But Drowning (6.58)
- The Magnificent Whittlin' Stomp (11.04)
- Solitude (3.46)
CD2
- Bolt From The Blue (9.23)
- Truth, Beauty, Compassion, Dignity (8.40)
Total running time = 18.23
Personnel
Saxophones: Peter King, Andy MacIntosh, Alan Skidmore, Nigel Hitchcock, John Surman, (baritone sax CD1, tracks 1-7), Julian Argüelles (baritone sax CD1, tracks 8 & 9; CD2, tracks 1 & 2)Trumpets: Derek Watkins, Henry Lowther, Guy Barker, Graham Russell, Mark Nightingale, Richard Edwards, Phil Brown (bass trombone on CD1, tracks 1-7), Roger Williams (bass trombone CD1, tracks 8 & 9; CD2, tracks 1 & 2)
Piano: John Taylor, Colin Towns (end of Solitude)
Bass: Dave Green
Drums: Clarc Tracey
Recording details
Recorded at CTS Studios, Wembley, England by Dave Hunt
All tracks composed, written and arranged by Colin Towns, except: CD1, track 9 written by Duke Ellington, Eddie De Lange and Irving Mills
The self-titled MASK ORCHESTRA was released in the UK and hugely impressed the British press and public alike. The Stage described the album as sumptuous, rich, breathtaking, dynamic. The Sunday Times said it was one of the most heartening surprises of the past few of years. The band, comprising some of the best jazz soloists in Europe, went on to do a sell-out British tour. The Birmingham concert was recorded by the BBC, the first part of which was subsequently broadcast by Radio 2 in 1995