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Warleigh Manor

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Warleigh Manor --- 2020-03-15

Warleigh Manor contains a truly remarkable and previously unheard private session by four titans of British Jazz. Featuring an extended, predominantly free jazz suite across two distinct parts, it lay forgotten in a large box full of tapes for at least 40 years. The music can perhaps be best described as the sound of extraordinary telekinesis between players at the height of their considerable powers. The exact details of the session are sadly lost in time. The only facts we know for certain are the lineup, and that it was recorded at Ray Warleigh’s home studio in Hammersmith, London (hence the title). Although the quartet performed in London on a number of occasions in ’79-’80 including at least two shows staged by the Jazz Centre Society at the Half Moon, until now it had been thought that they never recorded anything together. The tape this recording was taken from represents a tiny part of the huge audio archive kindly donated to Jazz In Britain by the legendary bassist Ron Mathewson.