Sean Trane Although not officially called so, Troppo is Michael Garrick’s Sextet’s last album, after the awesome Lotus and the less-successful Homesick albums. Indeed, no mention of the sextet but the personnel is roughly the same, with the usual suspect like Themen, Lowther and Rendell on winds, and old RCQ mates Green and Tomkins in the rhythm section, and the ever-so delicious Norma Winstone on vocals. Recorded at Decca studios in the late October 73 and released on the small Argos label, Troppo is at least as adventurous as Heart Is The Lotus, if slightly less “soundtacular”, as the rather bland artwork clearly shows.

Opening on the 10-mins title track, a mid-tempo scat-jazz piece in 13/8 that allows the horns to take over centre-stage when Norma is not busy flirting with the mikes, Troppo is rather representative of the album. The fairly similar Lime Blossom track is more enthralling with a more-present Rhodes, forcing the horns to push the limits, driving Norma to up the ante, even though she actually sings lyrics. In between these two monsters is the shorter To Henry (Lowther), A (new) Son sticks closer to the predecessor, rather than its successor, but the short drum solo halfway through provides a welcome break, before Norma’s joy scat overwhelms the track.

On the flipside, Garrick pays homage to another band member’s kids, (this time, Art Themen) by letting the father blowing his steam into the alto sax… Again the dissonance barrier is crossed in the middle section, but nothing extravagant in regards to the 15/4 rhythm. Excellent stuff that should have you hanging on to the edge of your seat. Fellow Feeling is dedicated to one of London’s first jazz star, the Jamaican-born paternal figure Joe Harriott, who had died a few months before this album. The first part is rather standard sung jazz, but in its second half, the track really gets down to business with a superb bass duet, one on the bowed contrabass and the other on electric bass, while some male scat vocals, much reminiscent of Robert Wyatt reigns over discordant horns, before Norma takes control again with Rendell’s flute at her side. The closing Forgotten Music is a slow and moody piece, where Lowther picks up his violin to challenge Garrick’s piano and Norma’s Shakespeare-borrowed lyrics. One has to wait until the seventh minute of the track before hearing a wind instrument

Definitely a huge improvement on the flawed Homesick Blues album, Troppo is probably Michael Garrick’s apex with Heart Is A Jewel, even if the one-shot project Garrick’s Fairground goes even further, but a few bridges too far, IMHO. With a stupendous and near-perfect flipside, Troppo can esily figure in most post-bop UK jazz album’s top XX list.