CD of the week

JOHNNY RICHARDS Johnny Richards Mosaic Select ****

Now chiefly remembered for his writing for Stan Kenton's big band, Johnny Richards (born Juan Ricardo de Cascales) was one of the leading jazz composers and arrangers of the 1950s and '60s, alongside the likes of Brookmeyer, Holman, Mulligan and Gil Evans. This latest three-CD set in Mosaic's Select series restores to circulation six of his LPs: Annotations of the Muses, Wide Range, Experiments In Sound, The Rites of Diablo, My Fair Lady - My Way and Aqui Se Habla Español. The first of these, Annotations, is a slight, three-piece suite of period charm, while My Fair Lady is a capably crafted example of jazzing up a hit Broadway show - plenty of solos, accessible treatment of the melodies.

All of Richards's bands were packed with talents such as trumpeters Ernie Royal, Burt Collins and Ray Copeland, the great trombonists Jimmy Cleveland, Frank Rehak, Bill Watrous, Wayne Andre and Garnett Brown, and saxophonists Gene Quill, Seldon Powell Jerry Dodgion and Frank Socolow. But the real meat lies with the remaining albums. Richards liked flaring brass and ebullient performance, but these four LPs show he was a composer and orchestrator of great distinction, more open to outside cultural influences than was usual at the time.

Especially notable in this respect are Diablo, inspired by the rites and rhythms of the African Bantu tribe, and Español, based on the varied rhythms of Latin America. There's much to savour throughout the work of this gifted but neglected writer. www.mosaicrecords.com