Artist: Dreamtime
Title: Zen Fish
Cat Number: SLAMCD232
Year released: 1998
Format: CD & all digital platforms
Barcode: 5028386023227
1980s UK jazz group that mixes free improv and post-bop with contemporary jazz, featuring Nick Evans (trombone), Jim Dvorak (trumpet, flutes), Gary Curson (soprano and alto saxophones), Keith Tippett (piano, percussion), Roberto Bellatalla (bass) and Jim le Baigue (drums).
Recorded at Gateway Studios, Kingston, London Feb 1998.
“A marvellous album featuring some major figures in British jazz and Improv…Great compositions and fine soloists.” – Andy Hamilton, The Wire
“Dreamtime have at last been able to prove that they can reproduce in the studio the visceral excitement generated by their live performances. Their material ranged from relatively straightforward blues to fierce collective scrambles hovering on the edge of freedom, and from woozily majestic anthems based on traditional music to strident, wailing originals influenced as much by British-based models such as Mike Osborne and Louis Moholo as by Ornette Coleman. It is their overall approach, however – a passionate commitment to informal yet virtuosic spontaneous interaction all too rate in much contemporary wine-bar-friendly jazz – coupled with their easy familiarity with post-bop developments in the music that makes this long overdue album such an unalloyed joy.” – The Times
“We always associate Dreamtime with Tippett and Evans. It was formed in 1984 and seems to suffer an undeservedly low profile…Its six members offer an imaginative programme of originals; they deal with a couple of little known traditional pieces and mix tidy arrangements with well controlled and exciting collectives. These are garnished with imaginative solos, well balanced counterpoints and the whole package is supported by the busy ministrations of Bellatalla and Le Baige. The excellent Tippett is prominent throughout but the work of Evans and Dvorak confirms that, of late, we have heard too little of them. Doubters should sample Evans’s take on Pygmy Strut and Dvorak as he looks at Ornette’s Nest and deals with the blues on Billy Goes. While at it, they should listed to Curson making his point on the title track.” – Barry McRae, Jazz Journal