CADENTIA NOVA DANICA - WIGMORE HALL 1968 (LP)

"To the best of anyone's knowledge this performance by John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danica was the first ever jazz- or improvisation-type concert held at London's hallowed recital room Wigmore Hall. So how did the concert, unique for the venue, come about? 1968 was a year of Denmark's extensive cultural programme in Britain, which included a poorly attended CND concert, not recorded, on 2nd October at Manchester's Free Trade Hall. That this was to be the sole concert by Tchicai-of New York Contemporary Five, New York Art Quartet, Coltrane's "Ascension" fame-was stupefyingly ridiculous so Anthony Barnett set about trying to organize a London concert. He traipsed the capital in search of an available venue without luck until, with no thought of a positive outcome, he entered Wigmore Hall. To his astonishment, with few questions asked, they said Yes. Following that, there was the matter of work permits. Barnett visited the relevant office and they too said Yes, probably because of the involvement of The Royal Danish Embassy and the Danish Cultural Ministry with the Manchester concert. To cut many a long story short, on an evening shortly before the concert I stood outside Queen Elizabeth Hall or Purcell Room (they are in the same South Bank complex) handing out flyers to those who had just attended a Joe Harriot recital. That probably helped Wigmore Hall reach its capacity audience of some 450, though another matter could easily have put the jinx on that. Barnett had approached The Guardian newspaper about the possibility of writing a preview of the concert. They suggested he write it as a review which they would print the day after the concert. But what in fact happened was that it accidentally appeared on the day of the concert: a review of a concert that had yet to take place. Danmarks Radio asked the BBC to record the concert on its behalf. The arrangement was that Barnett would receive a small fee and a complete set of the tapes. Afterwards, it turned out that the BBC had edited the tapes down to what it sent to Danmarks Radio, as broadcast and now heard here for the first time since. Sadly, and quite true to form, the BBC had wiped the rest. And it was a struggle for Anthony Barnett to get back the tape that did remain. Possibly it shows how difficult things can be when one acts independently. As Anthony Barnett put it, "Almost nowhere is it easy sailing. We do not ask that it is. It is a disordered jungle in which some things do endure and survive".Cadentia Nova Danica at the absolute peak of their powers; furious, rich and dense, moving between freeform improvisation and African touchstones before erupting into incandescent free improvisation, Includes an insert with the reproduction of both Wigmore Hall and Manchester's Free Trade Hall original press releases. Liner notes by Anthony Barnett." (label info)