Gordon Beck Tapes, What to do with them?

It's my first thread here so please be gentle!

I have a set of analog tapes from the estate of Gordon Beck. It's a sad story that leads to them being in my possession so I'll not dwell on it, suffice to say I know his family well.

I've pulled one out at random and it's a recording of Gyroscope, Live at Lauriston Hall, Edinburgh. Recorded by Phil Croal/Lettuce Recordings.

There are more, maybe a dozen but I'm trying to establish a few things.

How should I be storing them? (I know they are flammable and degrade, I can't roll back the years they've already been stored but I'd like to make sure I look after them).

Is there enough interest in Gordon Back to warrant digital copies or vinyl?

Aside from buying a decent tape machine to transcribe them, who would you recommend in London who would do this for love/for money/both of the above?

Any feedback appreciated, I'll try and get a list together of the other tapes.

 

I would try to contact Vocalion Records , which have released recordings by similar British jazz artists such as Dick Morrissey, Alan Skidmore etc.
Welcome to the Dutton Vocalion website

 

Thank you, I'll try them.

 

I've been involved in several vintage British jazz projects for various labels (Hux, RPM, Market Square/Dusk Fire). I know that Mark Stratford is keen to look at more late 60s/70s British jazz projects having just released an expanded 3CD edition of Mike Westbrook's 'Marching Song' - and Peter Muir at Market Square Music (whose Dusk Fire imprint has reissued titles by Neil Ardley, Norma Winstone, etc. as well as a new Ardley 'BBC Sessioons' release) is currently working with Mike Gibbs on a vintage live album. Do contact both. Market Square Music's website is easy to find and Mark from RPM is best contacted via his Another Planet Music [dot] Net page. I'm certain both - based within easy travel to London (Oxford/Buckingham) - would be interested and able to get stuff transferred for investigation. Good luck!

 

Thank you Colin. You've inspired me to dig the box out and have a look. There are about 20 tapes, some have been exposed to mould and don't look in great condition on the surface, there are an extra 5 or 6 that are compilations of popular artists of the time, Beatles, Stones, Pentangle etc.

There are quite a few BBC Jazz Club recordings from various dates spanning late 60's to early 80's and a copy of French Connection made for OWL records.

If I ever learn to post pictures here I'll post some. There are clearly no masters of albums so I'm guessing the lower speed (19cm at best) limits their useful properties even if they are in good condition.

I will contact Mark and Mike to see if they are interested though.

It might just be worth getting a reel to reel in order to transcribe them myself if they have no commercial value though.

 

Glad I inspired you, Airhead! At the very least I would encourage you to digitise them for posterity and let the British Library have copies of the Jazz Club broadcasts - but I'm sure there will be some commercial value in the Gordon Beck material. I'm doing the same myself (as time allows) - digitising/donating to the Brit Lib - with a load of reels of late 60s BBC broadcasts of music sessions I inherited. I have a reel to reel player and digitising equipment, and if you wanted to I could help - though I live in Belfast, so postage would be involved. Mark or Peter would both be able to put you in touch with me, anyway, and if postage wasn't an option I can think of one engineer living in the home counties who is cheap and has a reel to reel player etc.

 

Thanks Colin, I've had some contact with Mark and he's seen pictures of the tapes. I wish I could post them here but I've tried before and it weakens my will to live! It seems Mark and I will investigate the possibilities further with a view to a release that might cover the costs of digitising/mastering etc. If that doesn't work out I would definitely consider donating them to someone who wanted to digitise them.

 

That's great news, Airhead. (It feels a bit insulting to keep calling you that!) Obviously, if there's an affordable digitising solution close to where you live, or that Mark can arrange, fantastic. Failing that, just ask him for 'Colin H's contact info and say I okayed it - he'll know who you're talking about!

 

Airhead is after the BMW R80/7 I've had for many years! So no offence taken.

Andy

 

Let us know what you find out!

 

Good luck! This is really exciting news

 

A quick follow up on this project. Colin originally recommended I contact Mark Stratford and we have since organised transcription of the tapes, listened to the results and met to discuss the possibilities of a release or releases based on the material. Good news is the tapes were in good condition and good quality. They're not 1/2 inch studio masters but they are providing decent quality. Colin has identified a fair bit of new/original material from Gordon Beck which could form a 3cd package and the recordings of Joy Marshall with the Gordon Beck Quartet have great potential for a standalone release. Mark is capable and prepared to organise the licensing and printing/distribution of CD's but he is hoping to license the production of a vinyl version of the Joy Marshall disk.

Clearly Colin and I agree that the vinyl release should be as high a quality as possible. It would be great to handle this in the UK (from my perspective anyway). Can anyone recommend based on their experience of UK pressings a good company for (preferably AAA) mastering/cutting and pressing. It would be limited run and only really worth doing properly, i.e. producing the kind of vinyl release that this forum would approve of!

 

by the way, are the BBC shows of the Gordon Beck Quartet with Mark Murphy from 1968 among the recordings that
you got?
Reuab

 

I'd have to double check the tapes, it's possible, do you have a reason for asking?

 

The Gordon Beck Quartet (the one that recorded the "Experiments with Pops" LP) did a series of BBC sessions in
spring 1968. Some of them were with Joy Marshall and the others with Mark Murphy. I understand from your posts
that the ones with Joy have survived. It would be nice to hear that the others have survived too. And, of course, it would
be even nicer if they can be made available to the public - one way or the other - in the future.

Reuab

 

Although the Radio Times (and the BBC Genome database of digitised Radio Times content) listed Mark Murphy + the Gordon Beck Quartet for several Night Ride sessions spanning March-May 1968, the contracts at BBC Written Records state that it was the Gordon Beck Trio that made this set of recordings with Murphy. The sessions with Joy were seemingly with the Quartet (including John McLaughlin). I'm sure Airhead won't mind me saying here that among his collection are a couple of Joy Marshall + Beck Quartet studio tapes from the same period as the BBC sessions, doubtless including similar repertoire, and that the RPM plan - assuming an arrangement that Airhead/the estate are happy with - is to release a standalone vinyl LP of the Marshall/GBQ material, which is (in a way, happily) vinyl length in duration.

I've recommended to RPM the vinyl pressing facilities (AAA) of Gearbox Records, when EVEN Airhead should be happy with :

HOME

 

Incidentally, here's the great man on fire in 1970 with the Phil Woods European Rhythm Machine, which will - by its very nature - be utterly unknown to US jazz buffs:

 

Thank you Colin, I've not had a chance to look at the tapes yet but it does seem that I only have the quartet with Joy Marshall. Thanks also for the recommendation to Mark regarding the pressing, I'll have to start saving for a copy!

My next job is putting the pieces together with the estate, it should be straightforward as they are dealing with Gordons' legacy regularly and my preliminary talks with them were very promising.

 

I feel sure there'll be no need to put your hand in your pocket for a copy!

 

Great news! Looking forward to more archive releases from the golden era of British jazz !

Any news or details on that project?

 

I believe it's going ahead - likely to be out next year. It was in limbo for a while.

 

that's a pity. Sometimes those contracts do not agree with reality. Specifically in that particular case where, if I recall
correctly, the PasB file at the BBC written archive say that also the Murphy shows were with the Gordon Beck Quartet.
It would have been really good to either confirm or rule out this.

Reuab

 

Your recollection is good, Reuab - the contracts give the Trio (for the Mark Murphy sessions), the PasBs and Radio Times give the Quartet. I'll be contributing a small note around the GBQ and McLaughlin's involvement to the Joy Marshall/GBQ release and will have fully researched the BBC materials by then (I haven't had time yet). The excellent Simon Spillett will be contributing the release's main notes.

 

Good news, the permission to go ahead with the releases has been obtained from the relevant people and Mark is able to go about making it happen. Big thanks to Colin for making the introductions that made this happen. I've learnt quite a bit about the music business and it's been a pleasure to meet Mark and Colin. I wish I had some more tapes now! I'll keep this thread updated with release details and provide some clips if/when that's acceptable.

 

Splendid news indeed!