Jazz Academy Records was founded by legendary British jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Michael Garrick, who released 19 albums on the label between 1994 and 2012. The primary focus of the imprint was to release new recordings of his projects and included trio, quartet and large ensemble albums, with his current groups.
The label became a vehicle for further explorations of Garrick’s many original compositions during an illustrious career, as well as a chance to commit new compositions to record and to reimagine songs by his favourite composers, including Duke Ellington, Bill Evans and Joe Harriott. The latter was also the only non-Michael Garrick album on the label, with the hugely popular ‘Genius’ featuring a collection of archival recordings by the great Jamaican saxophonist, alongside two recordings of Garrick’s groups from the ’60s featuring Joe Harriott.
Many of the musicians featured emerged from Garrick’s own Jazz Academy school, which lends the label its name. They included some of the best up-and-coming talent on the UK jazz scene, such as saxophonist Martin Hathaway, vocalists Anita Wardell and Nette Robinson and trumpeters Martin Shaw and Steve Waterman. Many of the albums also featured British jazz luminaries, like vocalist Norma Winstone, drummer Alan Jackson and bassist Dave Green, who played with Garrick back in the 1960s and 1970s.
The only release on sub-label Garrick Archive, came out posthumously in 2012, shortly after Michael’s death. It featured a 1993 live recording of his ‘Bovingdon Poppies’ suite, written to celebrate Remembrance Day. Two recordings by his son, the trumpeter Gabriel Garrick (who features regularly on Jazz Academy albums) on his own Jovis Records, completes the catalogue.
The catalogue is now managed by My Only Desire Records. You can purchase the CDs and downloads via our Bandcamp store, plus online retailers such as Propermusic.com and Presto Music. They can also be streamed or downloaded from your preferred digital service. Click on the covers below to find out more and listen/buy.
