Originally privately pressed in 1964 in an edition of just 99 copies, Moonscape is possibly the most rare, most desirable and certainly most valuable modern British jazz record ever made. One of the super-scarce 10" originals could cost you œ1500-œ2000 ($4000!!!) in mint condition. This is the first time Moonscape has had a proper release, and the first time it has been available on CD.
Recorded in London in 1964, Moonscape is pianist and modern British jazz legend Michael Garrick's first album. Until now, and for 99 obvious reasons, very few people have ever heard this stunning lunar jazz.
As interest in modern British jazz and Michael Garrick has increased over the last decade, this recording has gained almost mythical status, with possibly only two copies coming to market in that time.
Moonscape is a solid keystone in the development of Britain's jazz sound, with a slightly floaty, drifting essence to the music, and an early British first foray into "The New Thing" -- the free jazz sound, even though the steps here are tentative and a touch naive.
Highlights on such a short album are frequent, and current Trunk favorites include the awesome and blissfully sad "Sketches Of Israel," and the complex 6/8 trip "Man Have You Ever Heard."
This is British modern jazz at its very best. Even though the space race had not really begun by 1964, and man was still a full five years away from a moonwalk, Garrick was no doubt onto something here, his prescient view of sound, jazz and space predating the rush of international cosmic jazz that punctuated the late 1960s and early 1970s. So, welcome at last to Moonscape, and thank heavens there are more than 99 copies this time around.
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