Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows 
by Neil Ardley

Produced by Paul Buckmaster and engineered by Martin Levan at Morgan Studios, London, 1976

Re-mastered, re-evaluated, this landmark 1976 recording by a who’s-who of British jazz - including Barbara Thompson, Ian Carr (Nucleus), Tony Coe, Geoff Castle and Dave Macrae - reaffirms Neil Ardley as one of the most important innovators of British modern jazz.

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… The Tracks …

1. Prologue/Rainbow One (soloist Ian Carr and Brian Smith) 10.26
2. Rainbow Two (soloist Dave Macrae and Geoff Castle) 7.34
3. Rainbow Three (soloist Paul Buckmaster) 3.28
4. Rainbow Four (soloist Barbara Thompson) 6.15
5. Rainbow Five (soloist Tony Coe) 4.25
6. Rainbow Six (soloists Ken Shaw and Bob Bertles) 7.39
7. Rainbow Seven/Epilogue 14.56 


… The Players …

Neil Ardley: director, synthesiser
Bob Bertles: alto, soprano, flute
Paul Buckmaster: acoustic, electric cello
Ian Carr: trumpet, flugelhorn
Geoff Castle: electric piano, synthesiser
Tony Coe: tenor, clarinet, bass clarinet
Dave Macrae: electric piano, synthesiser
Roger Sellers: drums
Ken Shaw: guitar
Brian Smith: tenor, soprano, flute, alto flute
Roger Sutton: bass guitar, electric bass
Barbara Thompson: alto, soprano, flute
Trevor Tomkins: percussion, vibraphone

Neil Ardley - introduction
by Peter Muir

Researching notes for “Impressed with Gilles Peterson Vol. 2 - Rare, Classic & Unique British Modern Jazz 1963 –1971”, BBC presenter Peterson decided that Neil Ardley would be a perfect choice to provide some introductory words ‘to give context, substance and insight to a period that saw British modern jazz in transition’. 

Neil was an important link between many of the musicians featured on the album in addition to being responsible for some of the tracks included. 

Neil died on February 23rd 2004; his notes never completed. Peterson dedicated the album to him.

News of the death of Neil Ardley at the age of 66 years came for many as a bolt from the blue, encountered abruptly in the fullsome obituaries that appeared in the national newspapers with enormous black and white photographs of Neil, conducting away, sometime back in the 1970s, someplace.

Neil had grown accustomed to the lack of recognition accorded his substantial contribution to British modern jazz. Happily, he had developed a parallel career in publishing and later as a successful author.

He is best remembered for his pioneering work with ‘jazz orchestra’, notably the New Jazz Orchestra (NJO), whose first album, ‘Western Reunion’ (1965), opened the door to his distinctive sound, most famously observed on his fabulous “Shades Of Blue”.

That door was opened wider when Neil met independent producer Denis Preston - ‘a rare Diaghilev-like figure’ as Neil observed.

Preston owned Lansdowne Studios in London and had been recording popular jazz artists, such as Acker Bilk and Chris Barber, for the Record Supervision and Lansdowne Series (recordings themselves being reissued for the first time by specialists such as Lake Records). 

Preston, a bridge between ‘trad’ jazz and an emerging rock variant, warmed to Ardley and proved the cornerstone of a series of ground-breaking album releases. 

He offered his professional and financial support in future recording ventures and under his wing Neil composed his first full-length works in a style that combined classical methods of composition, with returning themes in a framework that was European yet essentially English pastoral in treatment. 

As John L Walters wrote in a Guardian newspaper obituary for Neil: “He had an idiosyncratic ear for orchestral colour, a classical composer's ability to create long, through-composed pieces from a handful of motifs and a jazz bandleader's ability to write for specific personalities.”

‘The Greek Variations’ (1969) - based on a folk tune - and ‘A Symphony Of Amaranths’ (1971) - with settings of poems by Yeats, Joyce and Carroll, and a version of Edward Lear's Dong With The Luminous Nose, recited by Ivor Cutler - featured strings, orchestral woodwind and harp. 

Key contributions came from the likes of trumpeter Ian Carr, drummer Jon Hiseman, saxophonists Barbara Thomson, Dave Gelly and Don Rendell and vibraphonist Frank Ricotti. 

The two albums were part of a trilogy completed by ‘Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows’ (1976), composed between 1973 and 1975 as a seven-part work for jazz orchestra and performed by an augmented version of Ian Carr's band Nucleus. 

Neil had been commissioned in 1974 by the London Borough of Camden to write a new work to mark the first major jazz festival in the UK for many years. It was held at the Roundhouse in London in October of that year. He had decided to extend the ideas worked out in the previous two albums to complete the trilogy. 

‘Kaleidoscope of Rainbows’ toured England the following year under the auspices of the Contemporary Music Network of the Arts Council and became its most successful attraction. A final concert before a packed house at the Royal Festival Hall was so well received that Gull Records decided to record and release Neil’s creation.

Neil was to record again - ‘Harmony of the Spheres’ in 1979 - but thereafter his output was diminished by market forces out of kilter with both the genre and the cost of making such ambitious recordings.

However, his career as a writer now safely underway, Neil focussed on the literary life with children’s publisher Dorling Kindersley and is best remembered in these circles for his award-winning The Way Things Work, which sold 3 million copies worldwide. 

By the time he retired in 2000, Neil had written over 100 books with total sales of some 10 million copies. 

His growing interest in electronic music evidenced in ‘Harmony Of the Spheres’ evolved into with the electronic jazz group Zyklus, combining improvisation with electronic methods of composition,

In 2002, Neil toured a revised version of ‘Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows’ with a performance at the Purcell Rooms in London with Jon Hiseman and other jazz luminaries. His last jazz composition was ‘On The Four Winds’, performed for Radio Three by New Perspectives in 1995.

His later interest in choral music led also to the composition of Creation Mass (2001), a setting of 11 poems by long-term collaborator Patrick Huddie, and what was to prove to be his last recording.

Neil Ardley – appreciation
by Barbara Thompson

My friendship and musical relationship started with Neil in 1964, when I joined the New Jazz Orchestra. 

I had just started studying at the Royal College of Music, but learnt far more from working with Neil and playing his music. His broad concepts brought together many different elements, producing original music of the highest quality. 

‘Kaleidoscope of Rainbows’ features a long soprano saxophone solo over a beautiful sequence. During the recording I played the solo and after the first or the second version, Neil said that they had what they wanted. 

It’s crucial at this stage of recording to know when the performer has given of their best. As a soloist, I never know at the time, if what I’ve played is my best, only in retrospect, so I owe a lot to Neil’s judgement, because subsequently Neil, and other people have told me that it’s the best improvised solo they ever heard. 

In 2002, Neil asked me to write it down, as he was rescoring the work and wanted to include it in the new version. I found it extremely difficult to work out what exactly I was playing, but it all fell into place when I listened to ‘Kaleidoscope’ being performed by a different line up at the Purcell Room. For the first time, I appreciated the delicacy and subtle beauty of Neil’s work from the listener’s point of view.

40 years of knowing someone is sharing life through all the different stages of youth, middle age, and finally old age, which Neil will never know.

To me, Neil will never die. He will live on through our memories in several different ways. - as an artist - conductor and composer, he helped the British jazz Scene to find its own voice starting in the early/mid 60's when he was asked to take over the New Jazz Orchestra. 
Though influenced by artists such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Gil Evans, he developed his own style and the New Jazz Orchestra, average age 23 at that time, went from strength to strength, making two albums in 'Western Re-Union' and 'Le Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe' and playing to packed houses.

We met on a cold bleak Sunday morning at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, in 1964. It was a NJO rehearsal and I was auditioning for 2nd alto. They didn't want a soloist, just somebody who could read and play in tune. 

After the rehearsal they had a meeting to decide whether they wanted me in the band. Neil apparently was one of my biggest supporters. This decision was monumental to the direction of my life, both artistically and personally. 

Many of the fine musicians currently in the band at that time went on to become stalwarts of the British Jazz Scene. Members of the band included Dave Gelly, Ian Carr, Dick Heckstall Smith, Tony Reeves, Jack Bruce, Norma Winstone, Michael Garrick, Paul Rutherford, Trevor Watts, Art Theman, Harry Beckett and Henry Lowther - just to name a few. 

Musicians can be hard to handle, but Neil was always cheerful and enthusiastic to work with, and an incredibly good organiser – you always knew where you were with Neil. 

His music was symptomatic of his personality. He loved walking and beautiful open spaces - during the last few years he visited Australia on a regular basis, and like a lot of composers getting away for peace and quiet in a beautiful environment, wrote a lot of music. He totally rescored 'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows' whilst he was there.

For over 40 precious years, I knew Neil and worked with him on his projects and he on mine; it's has been a long road highlighted by our creative activities, and so many of which were inspired by him. 

About this reissue – the recording

This Dusk Fire recording was 24 Bit 96 k/Hz digitally-remastered by Miles Showell at Metropolis Mastering, London, December 2004.

Miles writes …

‘Kaleidoscope of Rainbows’ was originally recorded at Morgan Studios in late March 1976, with the final mix being completed in early April. 

The album became infamous not only for its’ supremely original music, but also for its’ impeccable engineering by Martin Levan. However for the original release, despite the fact that it was well regarded at the time, the sound had to be compromised in order that it could be made to fit onto a single LP vinyl record. 

The original recording features excellent stereo separation and extended bass response, but at twenty-seven and a half minutes a side (long for an LP side) both the stereo width and the bass had to be substantially reduced.

At the time of the original album cut a copy tape was made featuring all the changes made to the recording to facilitate the vinyl medium, this tape was then copied again, and this final copy became the ‘production master’. It would appear that all subsequent reissues have been made from this third generation (and compromised) tape. 

Fortunately for this new reissue, Dusk Fire was able to secure access to all the known tapes of this album. Sadly the original masters are lost, but a safety copy made at Morgan at the time of the final mix survives, this was excellent news as this safety copy is free of all vinyl-related limitations.

These safety copy tapes were in perfect condition, and allied to the excellent production and mixing the only thing for me to do was to transfer the recording as faithfully as possible to the digital medium. Only minimal signal processing was applied.

So finally, for the first time ever, it is possible to hear this album in all its’ glory. I personally would like to thank Martin Levan (the original engineer) for making my job easy, were it that all recordings were as good as this.

Kaleidoscope of Rainbows is a wonderful album, with beautiful sound. 

What the critics say …

“It’s beauty and superb sense of structure will mark it out, in no uncertain terms, as one of the great musical achievements of our age.” 
Karl Dallas, Melody Maker

“The brisk alteration of moods and textures keeps the listener on the edge of his seat … stunning variety.” 
Dave Gelly, The Observer

“… a classic.” 
Brian Case, New Musical Express

“… made to be savoured, enjoyed and, maybe, thought about a bit … within it lies a part of the musical future.” 
Derek Jewell, The Sunday Times