Fully authorized by Chris Barber and running at approximately five hours playing time, this set of four CDs and book set is testament to Chris’ remarkable career.
It includes eighteen-thousand-words of discography and biography by Alyn Shipton and an insider’s view of Barber’s motor racing career by Dave Brodie. The music spans the seven decades from his first studio recordings in 1951 to a final session in 2018, made just four months before his 89th birthday.
It includes collaborations with many other internationally renowned musicians. Leading a jazz band for over seventy years would be a remarkable achievement in itself, but also to have been at the forefront of the blues revival in Britain, and to have first brought such pioneer musicians as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, Louis Jordan and Professor Alex Bradford and many more to the UK is equally significant. The book section is fully illustrated with one hundred and fifty photographs and images from Chris Barber’s private collection and elsewhere and is a fitting tribute to his extraordinary life.