The United Kingdom, March 1973: Pink Floyd release Dark Side of The Moon: the provisional IRA detonate bombs at Whitehall and The Old Bailey; and saxophonist Tubby Hayes and his quartet perform one of their final engagements outside of London, taking to the stage of the Top Alex, Southend-on-Sea, as part of the pub's regular jazz presentations. To Hayes and his band, who'd been together as a unit for over three years, it was hardly a gig to raise eyebrows; a typical, jazz club blow in a suburban pub backroom, the very thing that the saxophonist had begun his career doing twenty-three years earlier. But now, Hayes was no longer a star ascendant, or operating like the jazz dynamo he'd been in his mid-1960s heyday. He was, quite literally, running out of time. Three months after the Top Alex appearance, he was dead, aged just 38, finally halted by the heart problems that had plagued his final years. While the press obituaries rightly accorded Hayes his deserved position as one of Britain's greatest ever jazz talents, they also noted the cruel irony that he and his band hadn't entered a recording studio since 1969. Indeed, how the Tubby Hayes Quartet - a group which one obituarist compared to the identical line-up led by John Coltrane sounded in its final years became something of a mystery.

The discovery of privately recorded tapes of the Top Alex performance, issued for the first time on this Acrobat release, provides not only a valedictory souvenir of the quartet in its final phase, but also a lesson in its leaders still deepening musical maturity; close to the end, Hayes draws on everything he'd learned, experienced and pioneered to date, as well as revealing clues as to where his music might have headed next. Packaged with rare photographs and memorabilia from the night itself, featuring reminiscences by band member Spike Wells, and others who witnessed the gig, and including an in-depth booklet note by Hayes' biographer, saxophonist Simon Spillett, this album is a final, melancholy reminder of a truly gigantic musical legend.

REVIEWS

Particularly significant as a reminder how wonderfully well he was playing at that time, despite his health problems. - Peter Bevan (Northern Echo)

This release is undeniably welcome, given Acrobat's "every bit of it" commitment to documenting Tubby & his associates. Simon Spillett's magisterial 22-page booklet essay almost exceeds the recording in relevance and value.  - Peter Vacher (Jazzwise)

One of his last concert performances, shows Tubby in feisty and telepathic form, his flute playing gorgeous and delivered ata  rich pace. - George Harris (Jazz Weekley)

The spirt and technique of Tubby Hayes lives on in the form of another formidable tenorist. - John Martin (The Jazz Rag)

Poignant, because this is very probably his last gig that was recorded. In this respect it's an intriguing document revealing how this great saxophonist adapted his blowing to accommodate his failing health. - Mark Gardner (Jazz Journal)

Superlatives are sometimes thrown around too freely when assessing art. I must confess that I too have been seduced by the very obvious talents of one of Britian's finest jazzmen. This was a remarkable talent. - Barry Clare (Just Jazz)