Le Déjeuner Sur L'Herbe!

[RogerF]

At long last the brilliant Le Déjeuner Sur L'Herbe recorded in 1968 by the New Jazz Orchestra under the leadership of the late Neil Ardley is being re-issued for the first time on CD. This classic recording features Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Dave Gelly, Harry Beckett, Mike Gibbs, Derek Watkins, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Barbara Thompson, Frank Ricotti, Jack Bruce (on double bass!) and Jon Hiseman, amongst others. The Dusk Fire release (DUSKCD110) is superbly packaged in digipak format with a booklet of photographs and extensive sleeve notes by Dave Gelly and others. It has been described in an extended article on the recording as “One of the finest jazz recordings ever made and arguably the best big band recording by British musicians …” (Jazz Journal February 2012)(*). It has a 1,000 CD limited run, so get your order in now! It's released on 6 January 2015.

Track listing:
Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe
Naïma
Angle
Ballad
Dusk Fire
Nardis
Study
Rebirth

(*) ok, declaration of interest here...I was the author of that article!

Edited November 1, 2014 by RogerF

[A Lark Ascending]

Good record - I have a fairly basic CD-r copy Neil Ardley put out himself. Be nice to have a fully restored version.

Thanks, Roger.

[Homefromtheforest]

No vinyl?

[Head Man]

Good record - I have a fairly basic CD-r copy Neil Ardley put out himself. Be nice to have a fully restored version.

... same here.

Thanks for the heads-up, Roger

[RogerF]

Good record - I have a fairly basic CD-r copy Neil Ardley put out himself. Be nice to have a fully restored version.

Same here too but - this deserved to be officially re-issued years ago. Now thankfully it is. No vinyl, but some original used vinyl copies do re-emerge from time to time commanding ridiculous prices.

[mjazzg]

No mention as yet on the Dusk Fire site....the wait continues......

[Homefromtheforest]

Good record - I have a fairly basic CD-r copy Neil Ardley put out himself. Be nice to have a fully restored version.

Same here too but - this deserved to be officially re-issued years ago. Now thankfully it is. No vinyl, but some original used vinyl copies do re-emerge from time to time commanding ridiculous prices.

Yes I understand originals are expensive; what I was asking is if there will be a reissue on vinyl in addition to the CD reissue?

[A Lark Ascending]

No mention as yet on the Dusk Fire site....the wait continues......

Has a January 5th release date on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dejeuner-Sur-LHerbe-Jazz-Orchestra/dp/B00P0IF6GU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414861767&sr=8-1&keywords=new+jazz+orchestra

[RogerF]

Dealing with the points above in order. I am not aware of an impending vinyl release for this, but it isn't impossible as I seem to remember this did happen with Rendell Carr Live at the Union but sadly this was not a Dusk Fire release. It may well happen, but there is no mention of this in the press release I've seen. Also, with regard to the release and availability, again the press release states the date as 6 January but on Amazon it says 5 January. So some ambiguity there, but rest assured this is going to happen definitely, at the very start of January. No mention on the Dusk Fire website yet but again, I'm sure that will be amended quite shortly. It will be worth the wait.

[A Lark Ascending]

6th might be US date?

In the UK new releases come out on Mon; I get the impression Tuesday is the US date.

[ejp626]

6th might be US date?

In the UK new releases come out on Mon; I get the impression Tuesday is the US date.

So far no US release date (not in the Amazon.com system). Given shipping prices it might actually be cheaper to get it up here in Canada from the UK site than the US! Anyway, this looks like one that I will be springing for. Thanks for the update.

[clifford_thornton]

I had a somewhat ratty LP of this that I ended up trading. Killer record - will have to pick up the CD until I can find a mint copy of the vinyl at less than $300...

[sidewinder]

Even with a good copy of the vinyl I'll be springing for a CD copy of this. Great news !

[king ubu]

very good news!

[RogerF]

No mention as yet on the Dusk Fire site....the wait continues......

It's now on the Dusk Fire website catalogue and can be ordered direct from there:-

http://www.musicsogood.com/duskfire/catalogue.htm

[mjazzg]

No mention as yet on the Dusk Fire site....the wait continues......

It's now on the Dusk Fire website catalogue and can be ordered direct from there:-

http://www.musicsogood.com/duskfire/catalogue.htm

thanks

[jlhoots]

I've never heard this.

Pre-ordered!

[clifford_thornton]

Will grip; had a lesser copy on LP that I traded not too long ago. It's a very good record.

[colinmce]

What's the music like? It's hard not to imagine it as some baroque-jazz thing, thought I'm sure it's not.

[clifford_thornton]

Nope! Not at all. Knottily-themed large ensemble 'modal jazz' out of the Gil Evans school.

[RogerF]

Nope! Not at all. Knottily-themed large ensemble 'modal jazz' out of the Gil Evans school.

Clifford you took the words right out of my mouth - a very apposite description. Miles' 'Nardis' is something else - the definitive version IMO

[soulpope]

Ordered this too...

[medjuck]

Every time I see this topic I briefly think it's about the Jean Renoir film of this title that is equally hard to come by.

[A Lark Ascending]

Really nice record. But don't expect the Dead Sea Scrolls.

It puts me in mind of a fair bit of jazz recorded for film.

A must for lovers of Brit jazz of that era. Will most likely be enjoyed by those who like orchestral/big band jazz (or film jazz).