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Ian Carr: Belladonna
Ian CarrBelladonna
Vertigo
1972
Today's Rediscovery? British trumpeter Ian Carr's Belladonna, a gem of an album that's also the coming out party for soon-to-be-legendary guitarist
Allan Holdsworth
guitar, electric1948 - 2017
A album I'd not heard in the decade since I wrote the retrospective Ian Carr And Nucleus: '70s British Jazz Rock Progenitors for All About Jazz in the fall of 2004, listening to it again after all these years brought back all the reasons why it's been one of my favorite recordings in the late British trumpeter's catalog.
By the time Belladonna was released in 1972, after three albums recorded with his flagship Nucleus band—1970's Elastic Rock and We'll Talk About It Later, and the expanded lineup of 1971's Solar Plexus, all on Vortex—the band that Carr had brought together had all but completely fallen apart. Gone were founding members pianist/reed multi-instrumentalist Karl Jenkins and drummer
John Marshall
drumsb.1952
Jeff Clyne
bass, acoustic1937 - 2009
Financial difficulties were another factor at the root of Nucleus' dissolution, but Carr somehow found a way to get into the recording studio with the last remaining Nucleus member, reed and woodwind player Brian Smith, along with pianist David Macrae—who briefly replaced David Sinclair in Matching Mole, the group formed by ex-Soft Machine's drummer/founding member
Robert Wyatt
drums
Roy Babbington
bass, electricb.1940
Brian Auger
organ, Hammond B3b.1939
Gordon Beck
piano1935 - 2011
Trevor Tomkins
percussionb.1941
Belladonna would turn out to be a turning point for Carr; featuring more atmospheric excursions like the opening title track, where Macrae's Fender Rhodes and Beck's Wurlitzer combined to create an ethereal underpinning for the emergence of Babbington's relaxed but relentless, repetitive bass line—a signature skill for the bassist that made him a British alternative to
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
But the reason why Belladonna stands out in Carr's discography is the participation of a 26 year-old guitarist whose only previous recorded appearance was with English progressive rockers 'Igginsbottom and its sole release, 1969's 'Igginsbottom's Wrench. The approach to harmony and a legato playing that would define the guitarist for decades to come was still in its early stages, and he'd yet to find the tone he was looking for, but on the strength of just two solos—the Phrygian "Remadione" and, in particular, his absolutely incendiary solo that concludes the fiery album closer "Hector's House"—Holdsworth elevated a good album to not just a great one, but an important one, Clean toned, his lightning speed and unusual approach to creating cascading lines made clear that this was a guitarist to watch, even as, throughout the rest of the record his accompaniment support is, indeed, pretty pedestrian...even resorting to some Shaft-like wah wah-driven chunky chords on "Mayday," a tune that, with its hi-hat-driven pulse, seems clearly informed by Miles Davis' seminal 1969 album, In a Silent Way (Columbia).
Within five years Holdsworth would be world famous, playing with everyone from
Soft Machine
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1966
Tony Williams
drums1945 - 1997
Jean-Luc Ponty
violinb.1942
Bill Bruford
drumsb.1949
Scott Henderson
guitar
Alex Machacek
guitar, electricSo, what are your thoughts? Do you know this record, and if so, how do you feel about it?
[Note: You can read the genesis of this Rediscovery column here .]
Tags
Ian Carr
Rediscovery
John Kelman
United Kingdom
London
Allan Holdsworth
John Marshall
Jeff Clyne
Robert Wyatt
Roy Babbington
Brian Auger
Gordon Beck
Trevor Tomkins
Miles Davis
Soft Machine
Tony Williams
Jean-Luc Ponty
Bill Bruford
Scott Henderson
Alex Machacek
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