...At Short Notice, by The Michael Garrick Septet featuring Joe Harriott

...At Short Notice by The Michael Garrick Septet featuring Joe Harriott, released 04 September 2020 1. Vishnu 2. Jones 3. The Sixth Seal 4. Parting Is Such 5. Promises 6. The Second Coming 7. Merlin The Wizard 8. Webster's Mood It has proven quite a challenge to pinpoint the exact venue and date of this concert. The original recording emanates from the archive of the former promoter of Club 43 in Manchester, Ernie Garside. Ernie’s collection consists predominantly of recordings of jazz concerts he organised at various venues across Manchester in the early to mid-sixties. Drummer Trevor Tomkins - the sole surviving member of the line-up on this recording - claimed though that the Garrick Septet never performed outside London. Furthermore, upon listening to the restored recording Trevor also noted that the general acoustics and audience noise gave the impression not of a club environment but of a hall, where appreciation of music rather than socialising was the order of the evening. Trevor suspected that the recording was instead made at University College London, where Garrick would have been welcomed as a returning alumni. Unfortunately, no adverts, gig listings or reviews in the contemporary press had surfaced to confirm Trevor’s hunch. The single unique feature about this show that gave any clue to its true origins was the absence of tenor man Tony Coe. A regular participant in the Septet, Coe should have been in the lineup for this performance but for unknown reasons was unavailable and, seemingly at short notice, replaced by Stan Robinson in what appears to have been Stan’s only performance with the band. However, with dogged determination John Thurlow tracked down George Foster, the then secretary of the jazz society at UCL, who had recorded another gig featuring Garrick with the Rendell/Carr Quintet - released later as Live at The Union - at the suspected venue, and presumably around the same time. George happily confirmed that the recording was indeed made at UCL, on the 14th March 1966, although he has no recollection personally of having taped it. Interestingly, following a falling-out with trumpeter Ian Carr altoist Joe Harriott left the group mid-March 1966, and consequently it is highly likely this recording constitutes Harriott’s final performance with the outfit.