It has been two years since the passing of saxophonist, composer and bandleader Barbara Thompson, and to coincide with what would have been Barbara’s 80th birthday her daughter Ana Gracey has tirelessly worked on releasing on CD for the first time her mum’s first live recording with Paraphernalia.
Recorded in July 1980, the resulting album released on MCA Records was the product of four concerts given over two days and painstakingly edited by Barbara’s husband and Paraphernalia’s drummer Jon Hiseman. The LP has long since been deleted and never been made available on CD or on streaming platforms but now finally the music has once again been made available thanks to Ana’s efforts.
After having the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the music it was a pleasure to be able to talk to Ana about the album, and also learn of any new projects that maybe in the pipeline.
It is wonderful have Live In Concert finally available on CD, but I understand that the process was not particularly straight forward especially not having access to the master tapes?
This is all fairly technical and was done many years ago before my father died. In his words, as described in the CD booklet, “Originally, Live In Concert was released as a double vinyl album on MCA Records. In response to numerous requests, Jon Hiseman made five early LPs recorded for MCA available as high-quality CD-Rs to owners of the original albums.
The five albums in this series took 17 days to process from 34 unplayed LPs in Jon Hiseman’s archive. Over £30,000 worth of equipment was used in the process. The result is a listening experience as close to the original session masters as possible without access to the actual tapes.”
My dad produced the recording made at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch from performances recorded over two consecutive days in July 1980, along with the subsequent album. From the liner notes “The success of the splicing naturally depended on the tempo of the tracks being identical, and Jon’s metronomic sense of rhythm when he counted the band in was always spot on. In his characteristic visionary way, he had masterminded this style of recording to gain the optimum result. Colin recalls sitting in on some of the mixes in the studio and observing the splicing involved, “I had no previous idea that a single number could be an amalgam of several performances.””
If it has been a long wait for the album to be commercially available again, and the timing quite poignant in that this year would have been Barbara’s 80th birthday. I know that Barbara was quite rightly proud of this album. It must have brought back many memories for you when compiling the music and booklet for the CD?
I have no memory of actually being at this concert, but I do, of course, remember being at many others. It’s wonderful to hear my mum (and dad of course!) in her heyday. Although she was “mum” to me; listening to this album really hits home what a virtuosic player and composing genius she was. Both my parents were remarkable and unique in their own ways and it’s a great comfort to know their legacy lives on in their music.
One of the band’s most popular tunes at concerts was ‘Little Annie-Ooh’ that Barbara wrote and dedicated to you. What are your recollections as a child hearing Paraphernalia, and particularly that piece?
I think I put it best in the liner notes when I wrote that “The piece really seemed to capture people and would become one of her most popular. I remember sitting in audiences and knowing that it would soon come up in the set, often as an encore, with a sense of enormous pride. If I was in the crowd, my mum would point me out when introducing it, and my dad would find me with his eyes whilst keeping the beat, breathing with the rhythm in that way he had. Fans often came up to me before, during and after gigs; I was ‘Little Annie-Ooh’, and it made me and them feel special meeting me.”
In addition to Live In Concert, Paraphernalia released other albums for MCA Records, including their debut album Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia and the follow up Wilde Tales. Are there plans to make these early albums available on CD too?
Not at the moment, but you never know. There’s more in the pipeline via Repertoire Records however…
The booklet that accompanies the album is superbly annotated and includes some lovely photographs. It must have brought back many memories in collating the anecdotes and images ready for publication? In addition, as if the live concert and CD booklet were not enough, there is also a second CD included titled The Flute Collection comprising ten pieces for flute. With each of the tracks chosen by Barbara, it must have been difficult to choose from the many recordings that she had made, and a task made more painful that Barbara had been forced to give up playing the flute with the onset of Parkinson’s Disease?
My mum actually compiled The Flute Collection herself a few years before her death in the hopes that it would make a good future album. She studied flute alongside clarinet and piano at the Royal College of Music so the flute, alongside the playing and composing for it, was dear to her heart. Sadly, her Parkinson’s diagnosis meant that the flute became something that she was unable to play even though she went on to play and perform on the saxophone for many more years. It was wonderful researching the tracks she had playlisted and remembering the many different Paraphernalia line-ups that they encompassed along with the various anecdotes that fans may not have previously heard. It was moving to see that she had added the beautiful, lyrical ‘Elysian Fields’ as the final track of the album. To again quote from the liner notes “As the last track of the collection, it is aptly named after the final resting place of the souls of the heroes in Greek mythology. It perfectly captures the lyrical quality to my mum’s writing and playing, and something of her elusive personality. To many, she was a hero both as an artist and in her long-lasting fight against Parkinson’s. It is no surprise we opted to have this recording of ‘Elysian Fields’ played at her funeral.”
And for those who are quick off the mark in purchasing a copy of the album, you are also offering a copy of the DVD of Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia Live ‘05 at no extra cost. I’m guessing this is a limited offer on a first come first served basis?
My mum’s fans are so dedicated and I receive so many kind words of support for her music that I wanted to give something back to them in return. I have no plans to limit this offer for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully Barbara’s albums will remain in print for some time to come, but can you let us know if there are plans to make available any previously unreleased material. As a prolific touring band, is there more live material that might find its way on to CD or even vinyl?
At the moment I am working on the release of Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia Live in Leverkusen, filmed and recorded by WDR in 1994. The line-up includes my dad, Jon Hiseman on drums, Peter Lemer on keyboards, Malcolm MacFarlane on guitar and Paul Westwood on bass.
This will be available later this year or early in 2025 on Repertoire Records as a CD+DVD set with some really nice new photography to go with it. Here is a sneak peek of the album artwork…
For more information about Barbara Thompson & Paraphernalia visit
barbara-thompson.co.uk & temple-music.com
Click here to read our review of Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia – Live In Concert (80th Birthday Edition)
For more information about Ana Gracey you can visit ana-gracey.co.uk and you can click here to read a review of Ana Gracey – Live at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, Dean Street, London
