Mingus Big Band - Fez NYC

I may be slow but this is a classic story... A while back I posted a Mingus Big Band radio show from Glasgow, which incidentally was from a friend in IAJRC. Well, our buddy JD said he had a recording of their return to Glasgow that he wanted to share. I enthusiastically agreed. and then both of us promptly forgot.

Fast forward one year and JC lets me know it wasn't really Glasgow but NYC and did I still want to share?
Well of course. It is also the reason I love doing this. Because there are a handful of music lovers that really care about this stuff. The troll may get me down but this makes it all worthwhile. Thanks JD, for the awesome contribution.. Now I'm gonna let the dude speak for himself ...

The band move through a kaleidoscope of styles with a swinging ferocity that Mingus would have frankly envied. All his life, he craved and rarely had a large ensemble to serve his oversized compositional ambitions. “Charles wanted a band like this desperately,” says pianist and arranger Sy Johnson. “And on a night when the gods are smiling, it is an awesome thing.”
Ms. Sue Mingus, figurehead behind the continuation of the Mingus legacy,  may not have quite her husband’s appetite for public confrontation, but she has mastered the first principle of his working method: demanding from the band the highest level of im perfection. As Mr. Johnson recalls: “Charles had a chaos theory long before the scientists. He would get infuriated if the band really started to swing hard. He felt that the band was being taken away from him. He would get mad and try to fuck it up. He wanted to mix it up, make it uncomfortable for the players so they would reach deeper into themselves.”

Without the benefit of Charles Mingus to trip them up, the Big Band finds its proper level of chaos by having no one specifically in charge of the music. Sue Mingus draws on a pool of maybe 100 first-rate players that on a given night might include trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist John Stubblefield, pianist Kenny Drew Jr. Instead of a lineup, there are fractal patterns of personnel that assume a specific personality for one gig  and then disappear. The constants are a lot of good soloists competing for solo space, the arrangements and Mingus’ own tunes. It adds up to a coherence rare in a big-band world where brass sections still play call-and-response with the reeds. Another way of looking at it is that it all adds up to Mingus.

“He’s dead center in the middle of the music,” Ms. Mingus says. “I think all the musicians feel that way. Sometimes there are specific moments when the bass string will snap at the beginning of a concert, and everyone gets a funny look on their face. He’s still egging people, making these demands. I feel like a mouthpiece for him-I’m the loudmouth in the wings.” Adapted from a web article on the Mingus Big Band at the Fez
This is a set I've been meaning to post for ages, but I simply never got round to finishing the artwork until now. Never mind, it's here now, and it's a real KILLER from start to finish! The Mingus Big Band is, for me, one of the best BBs around; always reliably solid, always enjoyable, but when they're at their best - as here - they're unbeatable. The short recording, some 43 minutes and comprising just four top-notch compositions, comes from early in the band's residency at the Fez in New York in 1998, and was aired by the BBC in (I think) 1999. I've treasured it ever since. Clearly, as Sy Johnson says, the gods were smiling this night, and it is indeed an awesome thing!....JD


1. Moanin'
2. Tijuana Moods
3. Meditations
4. Nostalgia In Times Square

Robert Parker's Jazz Classics In Stereo - Classic Jazz

I've just been listening to the second installment of The Robert Parker series. I must admit that despite the criticism of his restoration methods, I am quite happy at being able to enjoy these tracks at all.

I must apologize for the horrid commercial in the middle but I left the shows intact.


Despite the similar title of the last post this is a different compilation of various artists and early tracks. The next few shows with narrow the field a bit more.

As I mentioned before, the remaining shows were in half hours segments so there will be two links for each show. Enjoy!!!

Jazz Classics In Stereo - an Introduction

Robert Parker was an Australian sound engineer who was passionate about early jazz. He also pissed alot of folk off with his technique for "cleaning up" these old 78's.
He explains his reasons for this at the beginning of this recording, the first in a series of 18 broadcast in the early 90's if I recall correctly.
 These are the Jazz Classics In Stereo shows not to be confused with the later "digital stereo" series of shows and discs. These, as far as I know never made disc format.

 This first one is aptly titled "Introduction to Jazz Classics". I'm gonna offer up a few of my favorites shows. Each show will be only 1 or 2 tracks without breaks.

As far as these recordings...well I probably would never have heard a lot of  them at all but for these shows so I'm not about to complain.

John Hicks - s/t

Every so often you end up with a recording that a friend gives you just because he thinks it is something you might like, not necessarily something you had been asking about. This record falls completely into this category. I assume the impetus was a shared admiration for Bobby Hutcherson coupled with a recent discussion about his work. What ever the reasoning, he was correct in his assessment of my taste. I like this little lp a lot.
I knew Hicks' name as he has been around awhile, floating in and out of The Jazz Messengers at times, but I was oblivious to any solo career which started rather late in his career. I knew he had done a Maybeck Recital session and a session with David Murray. Even though this is self titled, it appears to be his 4th lp as a leader.
While this session is not essential or life changing, we all have a lot of those very sessions laying about. This record relaxes me, untwisting the knots, smiling even, at some of the twists particularly from the leader. I'm glad it was passed along. I'm glad I have friends like that.

John Hicks

1. Pas De Trois (Dance for Three)
2. Steadfast
3. For John Chapman
4. Star-Crossed Lovers
5. Littlest One Of All
6. After The Morning
7. That Ole Devil Called Love
8. Gypsy Folk Tales
9. Beantown Blues

John Hicks - piano
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Walter Booker - bass

1984

Evidence ECD 22224

This friend has contributed several recordings and has offered more. Make sure to thank Six String in the comments.

Bill DeArango - Live @ Barkin Spider

Without fail, the best thing about running this blog the last few years has been reaching out to other fans about the music I love so much. Consequently I have met some great folk and learned about so much music they I may have missed on my own.
Bill DeArango falls into this category completely. While seeing in retrospect that I should have been aware of him, I was not. That is until a fan of my blog dropped this short set in my inbox and asked if I would be gracious enough to post it. I listened and I enjoyed it immensely. Certain that it would make the blog, i needed to do a little research first.

He is what the donor had to say to me... " hi hookfinger, i have a tape of bill de arango from 1992 in a club in cleveland called the barkin spider a friend of mine knew bill and use to go and see him play he asked bill if he could record him and bill said yes. bill use to live in cleveland and used to play this club once a month. well anyway if interested let me know and i will send it to you."
Not much to go on so now I give you details I located on Classic Jazz Guitar site...
"Bill DeArango (1921-2005), played with some of the world's great jazz musicians. The list reads like a who's who in jazz from the 1940's. Ben Webster, Charlie Ventura, Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Dizzy Gillespie and others. By 1950 this player had laid down some of the most inventive and creative jazz guitar solos known at that time. And, all this creative output was accomplished playing in the shadows of the great horn players of that period in New York.

DeArango left New York and the national jazz scene at the close of the forties and made his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He surfaced again in 1954 with a recording entitled DeArango on which he displayed the same great playing that set him apart from other guitarists of that time.

Bill DeArango was active in the music business through the 1990s. He owned a music store in Cleveland for many years and participated in the whole music scene in Cleveland from jazz to rock. He appeared on some rock and free jazz recordings from the 1970's and 1980's. He was often billed at places like the Barking Spider Tavern in Cleveland.

In 1993, DeArango made a free jazz CD with Joe Lavano called Anything Went. This CD also contained some standards that, along with the free jazz forms, demonstrated the amazing musical range of this musician.

©Copyright 2005 Classic Jazz Guitar"

I've done my best to identify the songs properly.

Bill DeArango
Barkin Spider 1992

1. You and The Night and The Music
2. unknown
3. Summertime
4. Yesterdays
5. Lullabye of The Leaves
6. Autumn Leaves

No other info was supplied.

Well there you have, Phil. Sorry it took so long to get this wonderful set up. I am honored that you share it with us.
If you people like this make sure to thank Phil in the comments.

BDA_BS

Thelonious Monk - Something In Blue

A freaking monster record sent to me by my pal Six String. I am humbled.

Monk never ceases to impress. More crazy piano goodness in the trio setting.


For all of his craziness, his outside approaches, I luve the fact that Monk never dismissed the popular canon. Nice work if you can get it, indeed.

Thelonious Monk
Something In Blue

1. Blue Sphere
2. Hackensack
3. Nice Work If You Can Get It
4. Criss-Cross
5. Something In Blue
6. Evidence
7. Jackie-ing
8. Nutty

Monk - piano
Al McKibbon - bass
Art Blakey - drums

recorded @ Gappell Hill Studios, London
11/15/71

Black Lion BL-152