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    Time On Our Side – Colosseum

    Original price was: £9.99.Current price is: £4.99.
    Martyn Hanson writes: What a pleasant surprise that a band that had been going on and off for five decades could come up with such a strong, not to say eclectic, album. Pete Feenstra, for Get Ready to Rock, beautifully sums it up: ‘Given the virtual collapse of the jazz rock and fusion market in the interim period between the band’s original dissolution and their comeback in 1994, the album’s title has an ironic ring about it. On their last studio album Tomorrow’s Blues they traded their former progressive style for a more mature blues feel, but this album has a surprisingly broader sweep.’ Jon reinforced this feeling in an interview just after the release: ‘It’s amazing what appeals to one person is quite different to another. I have people who swear the best track is ‘You Just Don’t Get It’ and why is it so late on the album. Others go for Ana Gracey’s ‘Blues to Music’. I like ‘The Way You Waved Goodbye’. So I hope [there’s] something for everyone.’ This, the final Colosseum studio album featuring master drummer Jon, was released 11 years after Tomorrow’s Blues. Those into Roman numerals would have got the year straightaway, as the cover has the numerals MMXIV = 2014.
  • Composed and arranged by Barbara Thompson and sung by the 100 voice choir Big Sky, this work was commissioned by the Norwich Arts Centre and was recorded live at St. Andrews, Norwich in April 2003.
    Lyrics by Tagore and Andrew Motion Julian Wilkins (church organ); Simone Rebello (percussion) Soloists: Sianed Jones, Jon Baker, Joanna Foster, David Burrows Musical Director Sian Croose
  • 10 original compositions by Barbara Thompson for 12-piece saxophone orchestra released 16th July 2012. "The wide spectrum of the compositions shows us the dark side of saxophone sound. The performance of this orchestra is perfect on this CD with highest recording quality. It's more than a milestone!"
  • Composed by Barbara Thompson for The Apollo Saxophone Quartet “Jazz rhythms met minimalism in a lyrical embrace. Motifs and patterns intertwined and chased tails in music instantly attractive, but never vacuous. Allied to the music’s ebullience came the phenomenal skill of the Apollo Four. Thompson’s writing made their fingers scamper off their knuckles in search of new swoops and gurgles, or the silkiest transformation from furnace blast to the softest whisper this side of the Milky Way.”
    Geoff Brown’s review of an April 2003 concert in the London Times
     
  • This compilation album issued in 2002 contains seven numbers composed by Barbara Thompson and performed live or in the studio with the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble between 1978 and 1999. This is one of a series of United Jazz and Rock Ensemble albums showcasing the compositions of individual band members. Barbara has composed many works for various ensembles, choirs and orchestras. Scores and parts in PDF format and mp3s can be downloaded free at here
  • Barbara Thompson – saxophone; Jon Hiseman – drums; Peter Lemer – keyboards; Billy Thompson – violin; Dave “Taif” Ball – Bass. With guests Shona Brown – Flute; Apollo Saxophone Quartet and Rachel Calaminus – violin and viola. (Barbara's last recording. Released 2015. CD review by Jon Turney) Barbara Thompson has been a luminous presence on the UK and European jazz scene, as composer, player and bandleader, since the 1970s. Against expectation, that presence dimmed only a little following her diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease in 1997. Performance and, I imagine, life in general became more confined. Yet, exploiting windows opened by evolving medication, she makes music still. The results testify that raw determination and refined pharmacology can keep creativity alive under trying circumstances. Her first “farewell” tour was in 2001, and she toured again with Colosseum as recently as last year. And now, a decade after their previous release, here’s a new CD from her own band Paraphernalia. It’s a fine addition to the band’s discography. The sound remains firmly in that corner of English jazz-rock where the energy comes from musical fervour, rather than heavy use of electricity. There is bass guitar, from Dave Ball, and long-standing keyboard partner Peter Lemer does evoke Joe Zawinul here and there. But there’s plenty of unprocessed piano, too, and the continual interplay between the front-liners – Thompson on saxes and Billy Thompson (no relation) on violin – is acoustic exuberance at its best. That sound, especially when Barbara deploys her attractively dry soprano sax while Billy soars and swoops on the violin, is intense, and full of invention, aided by a rich variety of compositions – some sinuous (Straitlaced), some slinky (Saxey, The Smooch), some simply infectious (Spring Fever). There are tenor workouts, too, but marked by the leader’s preference for creating melody rather than dashing through chord changes. Jon Hiseman, who as usual produced the sessions, executes the often complex drum parts with military precision, and the soundscape is broadened by the advent of the Apollo Saxophone quartet on one track, and Shona Brown’s flute on a couple of others. We won’t hear this music live, it seems, and there are a couple of tantalising fades that make one regret that all the more. But still very good to have the recording. It’s a thoroughly attractive CD, one that can brighten your day like an unexpected visit from an old friend.
  • “I consider this Paraphernalia video to be an important part of our legacy – there’s something really special about everyone’s contribution.”

    Jon Hiseman, from the 2010 book ‘Playing The Band’ by Martyn Hanson, published by Temple Music

    FIRST SET

    1. Close to the Edge 2. Are You Real 3. Smokey Embrace 4. On the Wings of a Prayer 5. Still Waters 6. Life in the Fast Lane

    SECOND SET

    7. Breathless 8. Son of a Gun 9. Shifting Sands Encores 10. Nightwatch 11. Kafferinya
  • Barbara Thompson – saxophone; Jon Hiseman – drums; Peter Lemer – keyboards; Billy Thompson – violin; Dave “Taif” Ball – Bass. 2 seminal releases from Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia. The Last Fandango is Barbara's last recording, released 2015. Live '05 DVD is the only existing video footage of her band Paraphernalia filmed at The Theaterhaus, Stuttgart in 2005 and released in 2011.
  • Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia with NYJO - OUT NOW!
    Seminal British jazz-rock band Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia join forces with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) for a new studio album featuring 10 original compositions from the virtuoso saxophonist, composer and bandleader Barbara Thompson MBE. The line-up includes the remaining able members of Paraphernalia – Pete Lemer on keyboards, Billy Thompson on violin, and Dave ‘Taif’ Ball on bass – who join forces with 17 phenomenal players from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. “What a lovingly constructed recording. A great tribute to one of the finest drummers ever by one of the best sax players ever – and her family. It matters not a jot that Barbara doesn’t actually play on the album because her creativity runs through the music which is a fitting tribute to two musicians who contributed so valuably to Jazz in general.”
    Mark Ringwood, Radio Broadcaster
  • In response to numerous requests, we are offering five early LPs as high quality CD-Rs to owners of the original albums. Temple Music does not own the copyright to these albums and the fee you pay is for the transcription only, not for the content. The 5 albums offered in this series took 17 days to process from 34 un-played LPs in Jon Hiseman's archive. Over £30,000 worth of equipment was used in the process. The result is a listening experience as close to the original session masters as possible without access to the original tapes. No booklet is included with these CD-Rs. Basic artist/performer/title info is printed on the disc.

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