Basil Kirchin - Primitive London

This release brings us not one but TWO unreleased scores from the master of jazz and filmic oddness, Basil Kirchin.
The first score, Primitive London mark’s Kirchin’s first foray into film music. The date is 1965, the film is the first UK
“mondo” style documentary, with Kirchin’s distinctive sound accompanying the sleazy underbelly of the Capital’s days
and nights. From Births to deaths via strippers, chicken factories and wife swapping parties, there was little like Primitive
London before 1965, and has never been a film like it since. Accompanying this first ever release of the Primitive London
score is another, even more obscure and unreleased treat, and that’s Kirchin’s music for The Freelance. This is a
gangland oddity set in London, shot in 1971 and starring Ian McShane.

The two scores represent interesting times in Kirchin’s musical life and development. The first score pre-dates his work
for de Wolfe and KPM, but proves that many of his signature sounds and techniques were already in place. The instant
and insistent rhythms are present, as are the melancholic chords and the well forged melodies. You’ll also catch a touch
of intense darkness and his brilliant and quite unorthodox approach to music in general. And by the time we get to The
Freelance in the breaking 1970s, we have his musical style well and truly developed, with free jazz experiments mixing
with his other signatures and even a touch of optimism is present as the new decade unfolds.

All the sounds here could only be from the pen of Basil Kirchin, and what a joy it is to give them new life and to share
them with his ever growing band of followers. What a fabulous release this is. If only Basil was here to share it with us all.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Primitive London 1, 2. Primitive London 2, 3. Primitive London 3, 4. Primitive London 4, 5. Primitive
London 5, 6. Primitive London 6, 7. The Freelance (abstract jazz 1), 8. The Freelance (abstract jazz 2), 9. The Freelance
(abstract jazz 3), 10. The Freelance (abstract jazz 4)

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