Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet: Live at the Union 1966

This quintet was formed in 1964 and dissolved five years later when Ian Carr shifted his attention to jazz-rock – so this long-lost private recording by Carr's friend George Foster represents a fascinating insight into how the group sounded live almost midway through a career that gave UK players the confidence to concentrate on originals rather than covers of American materials. Pianist Michael Garrick's compositions drive the band, though Don Rendell's spiky opener On shows how fresh the influences of both John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman were to these players, and Carr's and Garrick's collaboration on Hot Rod sounds like a more nerve-jangly Milestones. Carr sounds more unsettled the closer he gets to free-jazz, but the imperious Rendell balances passion and storytelling shape all through, playing both tenor and soprano. The atmosphere is urgent and hot, and if Garrick's jokiness at the piano (splicing Old Man River into Hot Rod, for instance) might not work for everyone, this is both an absorbing historical document and a set of powerful jazz statements.