Biography
Over fifty years, English saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and arranger Don Rendell shone as a central figure in British jazz and exerted strong influence on modernists along with later generations of musicians. Although he performed alongside many prominent British jazz figures beginning in the late 1940s and fronted his own ensembles from 1955 through 2002, the quintet he formed with trumpeter and composer Ian Carr produced the five albums issued between 1965 and 1969 that cemented his status as a true legend. Rendell’s immediately identifiable tone drew from sources that included Lester Young and John Coltrane; while always communicative, his distinctive, veiled sound remained grounded in blues modes yet deliberately leaner and more austere, and it kept developing until he stopped performing in 2010 when his health declined. His first sessions occurred with Oscar Rabin & His Orchestra in 1949; during the 1950s he appeared with Tony Crombie and Ted Heath, traveled across Europe alongside Stan Kenton and Woody Herman’s Anglo-American Herd, and directed a unit that backed Billie Holiday on her U.K. tours. The 1958 release Playtime confirmed his standing as a bandleader. In 1961 he entered an agreement with Jazzland and recorded the influential sextet date Roarin’ that featured Graham Bond on alto. The Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet came together, signed with Columbia, and delivered Shades of Blue in 1965 as the first of five collective albums subsequently reissued and now counted among the most valued documents in British jazz history; these remain the most commercially successful recordings of his career. Once the quintet disbanded, Rendell kept collaborating with numerous younger musicians such as Neil Ardley and Barbara Thompson while serving as an instructor at several respected institutions. He continued recording both as leader and sideman with artists that ranged from Joe Harriott and Amancio d’Silva to Thompson, and he directed his own quintet until 2002, the year he rejoined Carr and Garrick for an album. He instructed students, authored teaching manuals, and maintained club appearances until 2010.
Rendell entered the world in 1926 in Plymouth yet spent his childhood in London as the child of musical parents. He first took up piano and clarinet before moving to alto saxophone at age fifteen; the change to tenor came after he turned eighteen. His initial professional work took place in big bands, beginning with engagements on U.S. bases for the U.S.O. in 1944 and continuing with Oscar Rabin and additional outfits. In 1950 he joined the Johnny Dankworth Seven and stayed until 1953. He spent time performing as a club soloist before issuing his first two EPs under his own name along with the album Recontre a Paris, co-led by Bobby Jaspar, all in 1955. Financial pressures meant that Rendell, even though jazz magazines in Britain and Europe accorded him critical praise, relied on sideman and touring work to sustain himself. He performed with Ted Heath, Tony Kinsey, and others before issuing his debut full-length Playtime with a sextet in 1958 that included Bert Courtley on trumpet and fellow saxophonist Ronnie Ross. Early in 1961 he contracted with Jazzland and released Roarin’ by the New Don Rendell Quintet; remarkably, the set contained only one composition by Rendell, the balance supplied by saxophonist Bond, pianist John Burch, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Pearson.
Rendell encountered Carr after the trumpeter relocated from Glasgow, Scotland, to London in 1962. Both musicians responded to the example of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and concentrated on writing original material so they could develop an identity separate from their American counterparts. They combined efforts in 1963 and began intensive rehearsals and club performances. Once an A&R representative heard them, they obtained a multi-album contract with Columbia and recorded Shades of Blue at the noted Lansdowne Studios in 1964. The configuration that placed Trevor Tompkins on drums and Dave Green on bass constituted the sole album of theirs to include pianist Colin Purbrook. All seven selections were composed by band members, and the album, which appeared in 1965, received favorable commentary from Melody Maker and other outlets. Pianist Michael Garrick participated on the ensemble’s most celebrated recording, Dusk Fire, released in 1966. Rendell authored four of the seven tracks while Garrick supplied two and shared another with Carr. The album attracted substantial international notice; even DownBeat, across the Atlantic, awarded it four stars. The group devoted most of a year to touring the U.K. and Europe before issuing Phase III in 1968. Once more the three frontline musicians of the quintet wrote every piece and secured their second consecutive Band of the Year honor from Melody Maker, one of three straight victories. Their last studio album was the resolutely angular post-bop collection Change Is, released the same year and followed by Live before Carr departed on amicable terms to establish his own successful jazz-rock fusion group Nucleus.
Rendell undertook session duties on foundational British recordings that included Amancio D’Silva’s Integration, Garrick’s A Jazz Cantata (For Martin Luther King), and Stan Tracey’s Passion Flower and The Latin-American Caper. Rendell and Carr appeared together as sidemen on Neil Ardley’s 1970 release Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises. Rendell welcomed opportunities to perform with younger players and occupied the saxophone chair, tenor and soprano, on later Garrick albums such as The Heart Is a Lotus that featured Norma Winstone and as a participant in Garrick’s Fairground. He also sustained his association with Ardley, taking a prominent role on the 1972 album A Symphony of Amaranths. Rendell assembled a piano-less quintet with Tomkins, vibraphonist and flutist Peter Shade, bassist Jack Thorncroft, and saxophonist Stan Robinson. The ensemble issued the well-received and charting Space Walk on Columbia in 1972. After further activity with Garrick’s Fairground, Rendell rejoined Johnny Dankworth for the 1973 album Lifeline and Dankworth’s orchestra for the 1974 release Movies ’N’ Me. Perhaps his most consequential sideman engagement of the decade occurred on Garrick’s now-classic modal landmark Troppo in 1974, which incorporated four members of the saxophonist’s quintet plus Winstone and Henry Lowther. He additionally filled the tenor position on D’Silva’s notable album Konkan Dance. In 1976 the Don Rendell Five Featuring Barbara Thompson released Just Music on Spotlite, spotlighting Thompson on saxophone. The ensemble began touring and appearing at European festivals while earning recognition at home for their blend of post-bop and angular modalism. Rendell maintained his session activity, appearing on the album A Lover and His Lass by Cleo Laine & the Johnny Dankworth Seven in 1976, yet in 1978 he issued a double-A-side 12-inch with the Don Rendell Five, Thompson now a permanent member, containing “Roundabouts and Swings” b/w “Blues for Adolphe Sax.” The next year the saxophonist presented his ambitious live nonet project Earth Music, recorded at that year’s Greenwich Festival. Although it found favor with longtime listeners, it was overshadowed by the British music press’s focus on punk and post-punk.
During the 1980s Rendell appeared less frequently than before, taking occasional session work while primarily following his calling as an educator. Under his own name, Time Presence surfaced in 1988 on his DR label. In 1991 he toured Europe with Jutta Hipp and released If I Should Lose You with Don Rendell’s Big Eight along with the quintet album What Am I Here For in 1993. He collaborated once more with Garrick on Parting Is Such in 1995. Throughout the opening years of the twenty-first century, Rendell concentrated chiefly on teaching at the Royal Academy, Goldsmiths, and the Guildhall School. He also wrote several volumes of saxophone and composition instructional material and performed as a sideman on club dates, especially after BGO reissued the complete Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet catalog and DJ Gilles Peterson included him on Impressed 2, thereby introducing Rendell’s work to yet another generation of musicians. Garrick, Carr, and Rendell joined forces on Reunion for Spotlite in 2001, which became the saxophonist’s final recording date.
Rendell passed away in 2015 following a brief illness. In 2018 Jazzman Records reissued the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet recordings as the deluxe vinyl-only box set titled Complete Lansdowne Recordings: 1965-1969. The label’s Gerald Short devoted two decades to research and negotiation required to license and reissue the albums; obstacles included absent original documentation and Universal’s acquisition of EMI. Every album underwent remastering from the original analog tapes at Abbey Road studios and was pressed on high-quality vinyl housed in exact replica sleeves. The box set further contained a booklet with liner notes by BBC Radio 3 presenter and Jazzwise writer Alyn Shipton together with previously unseen photographs and interviews with Green and Tomkins. The set sold out its preorder and required an additional pressing before it reached the market.
Rendell entered the world in 1926 in Plymouth yet spent his childhood in London as the child of musical parents. He first took up piano and clarinet before moving to alto saxophone at age fifteen; the change to tenor came after he turned eighteen. His initial professional work took place in big bands, beginning with engagements on U.S. bases for the U.S.O. in 1944 and continuing with Oscar Rabin and additional outfits. In 1950 he joined the Johnny Dankworth Seven and stayed until 1953. He spent time performing as a club soloist before issuing his first two EPs under his own name along with the album Recontre a Paris, co-led by Bobby Jaspar, all in 1955. Financial pressures meant that Rendell, even though jazz magazines in Britain and Europe accorded him critical praise, relied on sideman and touring work to sustain himself. He performed with Ted Heath, Tony Kinsey, and others before issuing his debut full-length Playtime with a sextet in 1958 that included Bert Courtley on trumpet and fellow saxophonist Ronnie Ross. Early in 1961 he contracted with Jazzland and released Roarin’ by the New Don Rendell Quintet; remarkably, the set contained only one composition by Rendell, the balance supplied by saxophonist Bond, pianist John Burch, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Pearson.
Rendell encountered Carr after the trumpeter relocated from Glasgow, Scotland, to London in 1962. Both musicians responded to the example of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and concentrated on writing original material so they could develop an identity separate from their American counterparts. They combined efforts in 1963 and began intensive rehearsals and club performances. Once an A&R representative heard them, they obtained a multi-album contract with Columbia and recorded Shades of Blue at the noted Lansdowne Studios in 1964. The configuration that placed Trevor Tompkins on drums and Dave Green on bass constituted the sole album of theirs to include pianist Colin Purbrook. All seven selections were composed by band members, and the album, which appeared in 1965, received favorable commentary from Melody Maker and other outlets. Pianist Michael Garrick participated on the ensemble’s most celebrated recording, Dusk Fire, released in 1966. Rendell authored four of the seven tracks while Garrick supplied two and shared another with Carr. The album attracted substantial international notice; even DownBeat, across the Atlantic, awarded it four stars. The group devoted most of a year to touring the U.K. and Europe before issuing Phase III in 1968. Once more the three frontline musicians of the quintet wrote every piece and secured their second consecutive Band of the Year honor from Melody Maker, one of three straight victories. Their last studio album was the resolutely angular post-bop collection Change Is, released the same year and followed by Live before Carr departed on amicable terms to establish his own successful jazz-rock fusion group Nucleus.
Rendell undertook session duties on foundational British recordings that included Amancio D’Silva’s Integration, Garrick’s A Jazz Cantata (For Martin Luther King), and Stan Tracey’s Passion Flower and The Latin-American Caper. Rendell and Carr appeared together as sidemen on Neil Ardley’s 1970 release Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises. Rendell welcomed opportunities to perform with younger players and occupied the saxophone chair, tenor and soprano, on later Garrick albums such as The Heart Is a Lotus that featured Norma Winstone and as a participant in Garrick’s Fairground. He also sustained his association with Ardley, taking a prominent role on the 1972 album A Symphony of Amaranths. Rendell assembled a piano-less quintet with Tomkins, vibraphonist and flutist Peter Shade, bassist Jack Thorncroft, and saxophonist Stan Robinson. The ensemble issued the well-received and charting Space Walk on Columbia in 1972. After further activity with Garrick’s Fairground, Rendell rejoined Johnny Dankworth for the 1973 album Lifeline and Dankworth’s orchestra for the 1974 release Movies ’N’ Me. Perhaps his most consequential sideman engagement of the decade occurred on Garrick’s now-classic modal landmark Troppo in 1974, which incorporated four members of the saxophonist’s quintet plus Winstone and Henry Lowther. He additionally filled the tenor position on D’Silva’s notable album Konkan Dance. In 1976 the Don Rendell Five Featuring Barbara Thompson released Just Music on Spotlite, spotlighting Thompson on saxophone. The ensemble began touring and appearing at European festivals while earning recognition at home for their blend of post-bop and angular modalism. Rendell maintained his session activity, appearing on the album A Lover and His Lass by Cleo Laine & the Johnny Dankworth Seven in 1976, yet in 1978 he issued a double-A-side 12-inch with the Don Rendell Five, Thompson now a permanent member, containing “Roundabouts and Swings” b/w “Blues for Adolphe Sax.” The next year the saxophonist presented his ambitious live nonet project Earth Music, recorded at that year’s Greenwich Festival. Although it found favor with longtime listeners, it was overshadowed by the British music press’s focus on punk and post-punk.
During the 1980s Rendell appeared less frequently than before, taking occasional session work while primarily following his calling as an educator. Under his own name, Time Presence surfaced in 1988 on his DR label. In 1991 he toured Europe with Jutta Hipp and released If I Should Lose You with Don Rendell’s Big Eight along with the quintet album What Am I Here For in 1993. He collaborated once more with Garrick on Parting Is Such in 1995. Throughout the opening years of the twenty-first century, Rendell concentrated chiefly on teaching at the Royal Academy, Goldsmiths, and the Guildhall School. He also wrote several volumes of saxophone and composition instructional material and performed as a sideman on club dates, especially after BGO reissued the complete Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet catalog and DJ Gilles Peterson included him on Impressed 2, thereby introducing Rendell’s work to yet another generation of musicians. Garrick, Carr, and Rendell joined forces on Reunion for Spotlite in 2001, which became the saxophonist’s final recording date.
Rendell passed away in 2015 following a brief illness. In 2018 Jazzman Records reissued the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet recordings as the deluxe vinyl-only box set titled Complete Lansdowne Recordings: 1965-1969. The label’s Gerald Short devoted two decades to research and negotiation required to license and reissue the albums; obstacles included absent original documentation and Universal’s acquisition of EMI. Every album underwent remastering from the original analog tapes at Abbey Road studios and was pressed on high-quality vinyl housed in exact replica sleeves. The box set further contained a booklet with liner notes by BBC Radio 3 presenter and Jazzwise writer Alyn Shipton together with previously unseen photographs and interviews with Green and Tomkins. The set sold out its preorder and required an additional pressing before it reached the market.
Albums
Live
