“Bands, those funny little plans that never work quite right,” sang Jonathan Donahue on Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs. That line could be the epigraph to the music contained on this agreeable disc. First come four tracks recorded live at Golders Green Hippodrome, London, on 22 May 1974 by the Tony Hymas-Daryl Runswick Big Band, a project dreamt up by Hymas and Runswick as they were touring round with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. There would be no shortage of talent in the ranks: Kenny Wheeler among the trumpets, Stan Sulzmann taking his place with the saxes. And there would then, the founders thought, be an Arts Council Contemporary Music Network tour of the UK to kick things off. But the project never got beyond its debut outing in North London. Pity: the tunes – Hymas's lyrical When the Bough Breaks' is “[l]ike Hindemith,” says Runswick, “only better” – are smart and the playing no less so. The second set of material included here, Señor Funk, was recorded four years later and doesn't feature Hymas. This project was initiated by the producer Denis Preston, who had a new discovery to promote: Mike McKenzie, a pianist/singer. Runswick would serve as musical director – working in a Latin fusion style, “in the manner of Carlos Santana” – and in the event McKenzie featured in only a fairly minor capacity. Then Preston died and the album remained unreleased. Again, the playing is very smart. If you like Return to Forever, or Santana circa 1975, you'll probably dig it.