Keef Hartley Band

[greggery peccary]

I dusted off my 40th anniversary copy of Woodstock to watch with my 18 year old son. It was his first time watching and while answering his many questions along the way I realized that I wanted to know more about the event myself. So I ordered a book which broke down each performance by length of set, time of set, and setlist.

I was familiar with most artists but for some reason while reading the book shown below the section on Keef Hartley piqued my interest. Although I'm typically wary of groups led by drummers I sprang for this 7 CD set for about $40 and I'm very pleasantly surprised. At times the group exudes a Blood Sweat and Tears vibe (You Can't Take it With You from the live record) while the flute feature "Hickory" has an airy jazz vibe. There is also plenty of solid blues-based classic rock material included as well.

Curious if anyone else is hip to this music or interested in testing the waters.

[sidewinder]

Trumpeter Henry Lowther appeared with the band at that Woodstock performance and he’s still sounding good in live UK performances into his 80s.

[felser]

They've been favorites of mine for almost 50 years, especially 'Halfbreed' and 'The Time is Near'.  Miller Anderson wrote, sang, and played guitar on great songs for them, they had first call british horn players and keyboard players.  Excellent stuff.  I got the box and sold off my individual CD's.  Five prime discs (with bonus cuts) with the Miller Anderson version, followed by two increasingly meh discs of later stuff.  But the five discs are worth way more than the cost of admission.  BTW, their manager refused to let them be filmed for Woodstock move - oops!

[T.D.]

Sounds like something I'd enjoy given the personnel.

Funny memory...back in the day Hartley's album Overdog was heavily advertised in local (Chicago) radio commercials. But it was just a name, no sound clips; the band received zero airplay, so I knew nothing of the music and thus never rolled the dice on the LP.

[felser]

2 hours ago, T.D. said:

Sounds like something I'd enjoy given the personnel.

 

[Stereojack]

I followed the band on record at the time, had the first four LP's. I was in the audience for their Woodstock appearance, and they were quite good, as I recall. Haven't heard them in years, but it's nice to know that their catalog has been made available again.

[T.D.]

On 10/24/2022 at 0:51 PM, sidewinder said:

Trumpeter Henry Lowther appeared with the band at that Woodstock performance and he’s still sounding good in live UK performances into his 80s.

I recently picked up the Henry Lowther Never Never Land twofer from Jazz in Britain, and it's really good.

Re. Hartley, I've bought one other reissue box set on Esoteric, the exceptional Torrid Zone (Nucleus 1970-75 recordings). 

I'd purchase this Hartley box if there were more instrumental tracks, but from what I've sampled on Youtube there may be too many vocals for my taste.

[sidewinder]

Yep, that ‘Never Never Land’ 2CD is really excellent. I’m assuming that the recordings are recorded from BBC ‘Jazz In Britain’ and ‘Jazz Club’ sessions but the liner doesn’t make clear what the source is.