Gearbox Records have been deep diving and have come up with a sunken treasure – two broadcasts by Alan Wakeman's Octet, one from 1969 and the other from 1979. Quite simply, had they been originally released on Columbia's Lansdowne Jazz Series or on Deram back in the day (yes, I know they weren't around for the 1979 session, but humour me to make a point) people would be frantically bidding on eBay, happy to part with upwards of £175. This music is that good: classics of British jazz from its Golden Period. The list of dramatis personae tells its own story: the cream of British jazz of the period assembled to play a series of imaginatively conceived compositions by Wakeman that effortlessly move between inside and outside playing, swaying majestically between the exposition of powerful, Mingus-like themes that dissolve into abstraction only to elegantly reassemble and power majestically on. Talk about prophets unheard and all that – the groups Wakeman assembled here never got to play live, these dates were the only time they played together.