British Standard Time
Alex Webb, with Jo Harrop, Luca Manning, Tony Momrelle, Carroll Thompson
Released on Lateralize Records
With no prospect of any live shows during the pandemic, Hampstead Jazz Club commissioned a very special album which will raise money to support the musicians who have helped establish the North London club among the capital’s most respected venues.
One of the most versatile and in-demand pianists in British jazz, Alex Webb cut his teeth working with an illustrious array of singers including David McAlmont and China Moses. Having spent much of his career focusing on the Great American Songbook, he came up with the original idea for British Standard Time.
Enlisting the cream of the UK’s finest jazz musicians to collaborate with some of the country’s most distinctive voices including ‘Queen Of Lovers Rock’ Carroll Thompson and former Incognito frontman, Tony Momrelle, as well as Jo Harrop and Luca Manning, British Standard Time stirs a subtle twist of jazz into a selection of the most ageless homegrown songs of all time.
From Thompson’s sultry Try A Little Tenderness and Harrop’s haunting take on Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue through to Manning’s stunning reading of Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s Human and Momrelle’s mellifluous interpretation of Rod Temperton’s Give Me The Night, this superb album somehow manages to put a fresh new frame around these much-loved masterpieces.
Whether it’s John Martyn’s Don’t Want To Know or Paul Weller’s You Do Something To Me, these timeless songs have never sounded quite like this before. The New Yorker’s legendary music critic, Whitney Balliett, defined jazz as ‘the sound of surprise,’ which seems to perfectly sum up the music on British Standard Time.
BRITISH STANDARD TIME TRACKLISTING
1 Give Me The Night (Temperton) Tony Momrelle
2 Lullaby of Birdland (Shearing) Carroll Thompson
3 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Clayton-Mullen-Bono-The Edge) Jo Harrop
4 Slip Away (Dankworth-Dearlove) Luca Manning
5 Try A Little Tenderness (Campbell-Connelly-Woods) Carroll Thompson
6 The Man In The Station / I Don’t Want To Know (Martyn) Jo Harrop
7 Breakfast For Two (Webb-Charles) Carroll Thompson
8 Human (Rag’n’Bone Man-Hartman) Luca Manning
9 Moments (Webb) Jo Harrop
10 The Very Thought of You (Noble) Tony Momrelle
11 Mad About The Boy (Coward) Carroll Thompson
12 As Long As He Needs Me (Bart) segue into Love Is A Losing Game (Winehouse) Jo Harrop
13 You Do Something To Me (Weller) Luca Manning
14 Almost Blue (Costello) Jo Harrop
All arrangements by Alex Webb
Produced by Jamie McCredie
Executive Producer Mayank Patel
Recorded at Gorilla Studios, Battersea and Qube Studios, Park Royal
Alex Webb – piano, organ, MD
Jo Harrop, Luca Manning, Tony Momrelle, Carroll Thompson – vocals
Tony Kofi – soprano, alto and baritone sax
Leo Richardson – tenor sax, flute
Andy Davies – trumpet, flugelhorn
Nathaniel Cross – trombone
Ciyo Brown – guitar (tracks 5, 7, 9 and 10)
Jamie McCredie – guitar (tracks 11 and 14)
Flo Moore – electric and acoustic bass
Sophie Alloway – drums, percussion
