1975 Harry Beckett “Joy Unlimited” on Cadillac Records

Listen, if Harry Beckett is on it, I’m in. Which makes redundant the fact that if Ray Russell is on it, I’m in. Which means both that any further commentary is unnecessary and also totally necessary. Cuz this record rules. I love how much space the two of them have, it really is Unlimitedly Joyful that they both get to spread out so often and at such length. I mean sure, we need the killer bass of Daryl Runswick, who not only was an essential component of the Henry Lowther band, but on this does not seem to realize he’s playing as if sitting in with Soft Machine, and Nigel Morris (Isotope) playing some very Isotope-y drums, but the whole thing works like a charm, funky fusion-y Brit jam-noodling that in the end really isn’t about anything other than the pleasure of instrumental expression. Like, you get the feeling that these dudes would even do this stuff for free! Brian Miller (Eberhard Weber Colours) has some nice turns on various synths, Harry pulls out the flugelhorn just for a change of pace, Darryl Runswick is suddenly under the impression he’s on a live Nucleus date, and the whole thing is a ton of fun.

​To be fair, as a young man, when I was a good deal more mercenary about my jazz needing to dive into the quantum continuum and bend treble clefs and rip open the conventions of jazz itself, I flipped this record for not being deep enough. And so had to re-acquire it once I’d developed some nuance in my taste. Ah well, life is a continuous process of both learning and skin diving through the layers of the self. Also, any Ray Russell record easily at hand will immediately scratch the itch of destruction. Killer stuff.