JAZA11 Michael Garrick – Jazz Praises at St. Paul’s

When ‘Jazz Praises’ was first re-issued by Jazz Academy in 2005 it was it’s first appearance on CD. This ground-breaking 1968 recording by composer, pianist Michael Garrick, includes two extra tracks which were not included on the original LP issue. Recorded in St Paul’s Cathedral, Garrick plays the organ, as his highly original sacred music is performed by various combinations of choir and jazz sextet.

The sextet features the cream of the British jazz scene with Art Themen and Jim Philip on saxophones, Ian Carr on trumpet, Coleridge Goode on bass and John Marshall on drums.

“Garrick achieves what I would have thought to be an unlikely blend which succeeds far beyond expectation This is firstly a jazz album, though it is a formula which I would have never given a chance.” – Steve Voce, The Gramophone

“Garrick has taken Duke’s sacred music on a step using jazz as a basis for a body of liturgical music which swings with the gift of tongues.” – Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD

“Despite the overwhelming echo and sometimes because of it – the immense range and beauties of Michael Garrick’s music were breathtakingly revealed: his magnificent organ-playing places him in the ranks of the virtuosi, jazz or otherwise. Such an enriching experience, compounding surprise, joy and elegiac tenderness, cannot be encountered too often.” – Derek Jewel, The Sunday Times

Michael Garrick: organ
Art Themen: saxophones, clarinet, flute
Jim Philip: tenor sax, clarinet, flute
Ian Carr: trumpet, flugelhorn
Coleridge Goode: bass
John Marshall: drums
Choir conducted by Peter Mound

All compositions by Michael Garrick
Recorded at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London on 25th October 1968
Mastered by Dick Hammett, Red Gables Studio, London
Research and liner notes by Dennis Harrison

JAZZ ACADEMY HOMEPAGE