Jazz album review: Michael Garrick Sextet, Prelude To Heart Is A Locus (Gearbox)

With its satisfyingly fat vinyl platters, audiophile-friendly downloads and imaginative catalogue of rediscovered gems (plus new recordings), LP specialist Gearbox is becoming one of the wonders of the age.

Prelude… is a hitherto unavailable BBC Radio recording (from 1968) which offers earlier versions of three numbers from pianist and composer Garrick’s 1970 LP Heart is a Lotus, a Londoner’s rain-streaked riposte to modal jazz exotica. The title track is a 1960s classic – with Garrick’s harpsichord creating a floaty vibe closer to ambient acid-folk than the Dankworthian bop heard elsewhere – but everything is interesting, not least for the spotlight it shines on such a masterful composer. Warning: contains jazz flute.