Collier's most ambitious recorded composition and clearly
another of his major works.
Kevin
Henriques, The Financial
Times (1977)
Symphony of Scorpions, Part Three, featuring Art Themen.
Inspired by the
writings of author Malcolm
Lowry, in particular his
phrase
‘a symphony of
scorpions, a procession of flying grand pianos and
cathedrals’.
In
writing the music I tried to capture the essence of
Lowry’s
methods.
Featuring
Harry Beckett
(trumpet and flugelhorn)
Henry Lowther, Pete
Duncan (trumpets)
Malcolm Griffiths
(trombone)
Art Themen, Tony
Roberts, Mike Page (saxophones)
Ed Speight
(guitar)
Roger Dean
(piano)
John Webb
(drums)
John Mitchell
(percussion)
Graham Collier
(bass)
Recording
History Recorded Live at
Ronnie Scott’s Club in London, 1976
First issued on LP by Mosaic, 1977
First issued on CD
by Disconforme, 2001
Remastered
by Tom Leader of LCL Digital
Reassigned to
jazzcontinuum, 2009
The
Tracks
Symphony of
Scorpions, featuring
Art
Themen (tenor and soprano
saxophones) and the band.
Forest
Path to the Spring, a duo
featuring Art Themen
with
Ed
Speight (guitar), attempts
to capture the feelings of Lowry’s
novella of the same name. Bill Shoemaker called it
‘too damn beautiful’ in his review of the
album.
Some
Reviews
A
notable piece of writing, notably well executed by Themen
and the other musicians.
Kevin
Henriques, Financial Times
(1977)
Collier
has quite a following and the faithful will not be
dissatisfied with this fine record.
Barry
McRae, Jazz Journal
(1977)
Some
of Lowry's methods - his use of layers of meaning and of
allusion - have rubbed off on Collier, thickening up his
composing techniques.
Charles
Fox, The
Times (1977)
The
second movement has retained its raw power for more than 20
years.
Bill
Shoemaker, Jazz Review
(2001)
The
sparse textures and concentration on solo instrumentation
rather than ensemble performance combine to give the piece
an airy, indeterminate feel, just as Lowry himself might
have ordained.
Simon
Adams, Jazz Journal
International (2002)
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