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Michael Garrick has been at the forefront of British Jazz for over 40 years. Nominated for the 2005 BBC Jazz Awards, Garrick appeared at the Barbican in February 2005, restoring his classic 60s pieces Dusk Fire and Black Marigolds for the public as big band arrangements. Starting out with his own college groups in the late 50s, Garrick established himself with high calibre contemporaries including alto player Joe Harriott, trumpeter Shake Keane and bassist Coleridge Goode. Harriott pioneered the Freeform Movement in British jazz, an element that Garrick responded to favourably, then as an exponent of the Poetry and Jazz Movement and recently, in his jazz orchestra’s CD release, Big Band Harriott. October Woman was Garrick’s debut album on the Argo label. A modest collection of pieces, this album showcases the charm and character of Garrick’s piano playing as well as his originality as a composer. Subsequent albums Black Marigolds and The Heart is a Lotus were re-released on Vocalion in 2005, joining Garrick’s last album from Argo, Troppo, which was re-released in 2004. Throughout the 60s and 70s, Garrick not only recorded with his own groups, featuring top performers Dave Green, Henry Lowther, Norma Winstone, Art Themen and Don Rendell to name a few, but as a member of the Rendell-Carr quintet, one of Britain’s most successful jazz groups during the 60s. One of Garrick’s greatest achievements at this time was his 1968 collection of liturgical works, Jazz Praises, which saw him become the only jazz musician to have played on the organs at St Paul’s and Coventry cathedrals and the Royal Festival Hall. To complement Jazz Praises, Garrick composed Judas’ Kiss, an emotional journey of the Passion of Christ, beautifully re-enacted through Garrick’s imaginative musical phrases, arrangements and idiosynchratic organ-playing.
Following the demise of jazz to the burgeoning rock scene in Britain in the 70s and the loss of many artists’ recording contracts, Garrick continued to compose and perform when he could but also to share his wisdom and experience through teaching. He set up the Travelling Jazz Faculty, which toured schools nationwide and brought the delights of jazz to school children all over the country. In 1989 he established his own Jazz Academy at the Royal Academy of Music, providing short instrumental courses that all jazz enthusiasts could attend regardless of age or experience. Garrick has also taught on John Dankworth’s Wavendon courses and at the Guildhall School of Music, Trinity College and the Royal Academy of Music. More recently, Garrick’s compositions have been featured on two volumes of Gilles Peterson’s Impressed CD series, the BBC radio presenter/DJ’s way of giving a thumbs up to the forgotten treasures of 60s British jazz. His performance at the Barbican as part of the Jazz Britannia concert in February 2005 was broadcast on television and Radio 3. Humphrey Lyttelton has frequently featured Garrick in his radio programmes, as has Radio 3 in its Jazz Line Up and Jazz Legends shows. Garrick continues to compose, arrange, perform and record with his smaller groups and jazz orchestra and releases CDs on his own Jazz Academy label. His opus, Children of Time, is a musical tour de force exploring the nature of the solar system and the mystical spirits that keep it in order. His influences range from the spiritual science ethics of Rudolf Steiner to the rhythms and ragas of Indian music. Dubbed ‘the English Ellington’ it is clear that the breadth of his work to date, in which he has amassed up to 1,000 compositions, is just the tip of the iceberg.
MICHAEL GARRICK IS AVAILABLE FOR GIGS WITH A VARIETY OF HIS BANDS. PLEASE CONTACT 01442 864989 IF INTERESTED IN HIRING THEM.
All text and photographs (c) Vicky Tilson, www.myspace.com/vickytilson
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