Dick Heckstall-Smith - A Story Ended

A lost gem from a diamond geezer of jazz-tinged UK R&B

If you didn’t know any better, you’d assume from the look of him that legendary saxophonist Dick Heckstall- Smith would fill his first post- Colosseum solo album from end to end with inconsequential professorial noodling.

Yeah, right. A Story Ended, from 1972, comes at you like a ravenous minotaur with a yardlong stiffy. Everything about it is chin-juttingly upfront. Heckstall- Smith’s saxes bray like Roland Kirk’s ass (as it were), Rob Tait’s drums sizzle like rashers and the rough-house vocals are coughed into one’s face by noted aggregate garglers Chris Farlowe, Graham Bond and Paul Williams of Juicy Lucy.

It’s an exhilaratingly combustible brew, drawing upon the formidable chops of Brit jazz/rock and session royalty (Jon Hiseman, Caleb Quaye, Gordon Beck, Chris Spedding) and the poetic nous of ex- Cream lyricist Pete Brown. Lovers of the early Jack Bruce solo albums will find much to relate to here in the combination of passionate songcraft and stops-out musicianship.

Those wishing to dip a cautious toe before buying should start with the subtle sway of What The Morning Was After; while those seeking full immersion are directed straight to all 11 gloriously convoluted minutes of The Pirate’s Dream, a composition which it’s categorically impossible to hear without exclaiming, “What the fuck was that?”

Esoteric | ECLEC 2137

Reviewed by Marco Rossi
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