Another incredible 70's Ian Carr / Nucleus jazz reissue.....
Labyrinth is dark, brooding, beat-heavy, melancholic moodmusic courtesy of Ian Carr and the Nucleus crew. A favoriteof Madlib, it goes without saying that this is one magnificentrecord. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, Labyrinth wasnever re-pressed and of course, those original copies arenow very tricky to score. Like all the Nucleus records, it’saged ridiculously well and this Be With reissue, re-masteredfrom the original analogue tapes, shows off just why thisdeserves to be back in press.
Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was oneof the most respected British musicians of his era. He was atrue pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds ofjazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony WilliamsLifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise ofthe Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carrassembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as acontinuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigidboundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a“total musical experience”. We can get behind that.
Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up ofinventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution andrevolution was all part of the continuous musical explorationand discovery that took jazz to new levels. And the musichas kept relevant. To steal a line from a recent review of ourre-issue of Roots, when it comes to anything Nucleus “it’sbasically already hip-hop”.
Labyrinth is presented as a suite, based on the ancientGreek legend of the Minotaur with musical instrumentsrepresenting the various elements of the mythology.According to the LP’s original sleeve notes, the bass clarinetrepresents the tragic element, the trumpet represents theheroic element and the voice represents the human element.The rest of the musicians represent the two societies ofAthens and Crete and their comments on the story as itunfolds.
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