John Stevens’ Fast Colour
Purchase digitally:
https://loosetorque.bandcamp.com/album/suite-for-johnny-dyani
John Stevens drums/leader
Harry Beckett trumpet
Evan Parker tenor saxophone
Dudu Pukwana alto/soprano saxophones
Pinise Saul vocals
Nick Stephens double bass
Annie Whitehead trombone/vocals
Now Time 5:16
Way It Goes 12:00
John Dyani’s Gone 21:36
Mbizo 5:18
Way It Goes/Now Time 7:09
All compositions by John Stevens
Recorded live at the WIM Concert, Antwerp in 1988
Artwork and photography Fay Stephens
“It’s an extraordinary 51 minutes of seamless music—powerful, multi-hued stuff, with the gravitas of a requiem.” Read review by James Beaudreau at One Final Note at http://www.onefinalnote.com/reviews/s/stevens-john/fast-colour.asp August 2005
Also read Ken Waxman’s review at: http://www.jazzweekly.com/reviews/nstephens_live@plough.htm
The 6 pieces here form a suite dedicated to South African bassist Johnny Mbizo Dyani, on this occasion played segue to form a set. John always had Dudu in mind when writing this material and here, I think, he plays better than I ever heard him. I occasionally played in Dudu’s group Zila and a few months before his untimely death Dudu and I formed a duo in which he also played piano. We had a fairly regular gig in a bar/restaurant in Soho and people would often get up in the middle of their meal to dance around the tables.
Fast Colour played most gigs as a quintet, this was one of the first opportunities to add South African vocalist Pinise Saul and Evan Parker.
Unfortunately Fast Colour was one of the few groups that John Stevens put together that never got into the recording studio so this is the first opportunity for all but those who managed to get to a gig to hear this group.
Recorded from the desk to cassette tape.
Digitised and mastered by Nick Stephens.