Jazzman Gerald continues to dig deep to bring music that you may or may not be familiar with back to the forefront and ready for at home listening which is the case with the upcoming “A New Life Vol.2 – Independent and Regional Jazz in Great Britain 1968-1988. A big fan of volume 1 which was released back in 2015 and was something that alerted jazz heads to the existence of an unknown world of British jazz private pressings and indie obscurities. The latest volume follows things up perfectly combing the bins for more overlooked jazz gems from across the length and breadth of the British Isles.
From London blues renegade Billy Jenkins’s spiritual tribute to Pharoah Sanders and the swinging vocal artistry of Belfast-born Gerry McClelland, to the thunderous big band sound of Leicester’s Music Explosion and the modal drama of the Don Rendell Five, A New Life Vol. 2 reveals another fascinating layer of forgotten Brit jazz history.