At the suggestion of Denis Preston, who had produced Ardley's The Greek Variations (1969) and A Symphony of Amaranths (1971) for the Lansdowne Series, Ardley began work on album intended to complete the trilogy based on a pentatonic scale used in Balinese Gamelan music. The concept followed the previous two albums that both used a sequence of notes to provide the foundation for composition and improvisation. The project fell through with Preston, but was resurrected by means of a commission for the Camden Festival for a big band, which on reflection Ardley considered ‘a bit old fashioned’.

Re-arranging his suite for a heterogenous 12-piece ensemble, they embarked on an Arts Council Tour in 1975, culminating in this live concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 20 October. As can be heard, the audience were wildly enthusiastic, but so were the critics, notably The Sunday Times and Melody Maker. As a result Gull Records recorded the project as Kaleidoscope of Rainbows in London's Morgan Studios in 1976. Perhaps because it did not appear on the Lansdowne imprint, perhaps because it used electronic instruments and electric tone colours and perhaps because it drew on rock rhythms this final part of the trilogy has not enjoyed the kind of aura (or collectability) of its two predecessors. The release of the QEH concert (from Ardley's personal tape collection) suggests the time is right for a bit of drastic revisionism. This is a fitting highpoint in what has become known as ‘The Golden Period of British Jazz’ before it finally got overwhelmed by pop, rock and disco. It's a Parthian Shot of an era, an exemplary example of British jazz at its finest. The recorded sound is surprisingly good, capturing the strong imprimatur of Ardley's always engaging compositional style. It is much longer than the seven ‘Rainbow’ episodes plus prologue and epilogue of the studio recording, down to ‘Interlude’ episodes between each ‘Rainbow’ composition, and the addition of ‘Rainbow 8’ and ‘Rainbow 9’. No doubt about it, Kaleidoscope of Rainbows is a classic that as it happened came (more or less) at the end of a classic period of British jazz. Hats off to the Jazz in Britain team that produced this limited (500-copies) edition.