mjzee

Release date February 7:

Release date January 31:

Release date January 31:

Release date January 31:

At one point he had downloads available on his website. I bought quite a few of them, and thought it was an elegant solution.

Miles more than made up for it by recording Gingerbread Boy.

I am very sad to hear this. RIP to a true giant. https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2020/01/19/535609079/jazz-saxophone-legend-jimmy-heath-has-died

Cecil McBee seems like an outlier. Can he cook?

It helped me; I would not have located this music otherwise. Also, it's hard to debate the ethics of this release considering that the original source was Boris Rose recording them off the air. Mingus and his estate never received a dime from either Rose or Solar. Neither has Sonny Rollins received royalties from that Village Gate box (which is also fascinating and essential).

Reading the booklet was an interesting experience. The writing (by Art Masarini) wasn't horrible. The writer seemed to have a command of the English language; perhaps that's a low bar, but he cleared it. He also seemed to be familiar with Mingus's music; again, an unexceptional trait, except that many of these booklets sound like they were written by a bot. But I was struck by how much more a good writer brings: not just facts strung in an intelligible way, but verve, drive...a good writer makes the reading experience interesting. Masarini doesn't have that. But he said some things that did add to my perspective, by showing where the Birdland performances fit into the Mingus timeline. For example, he points out that the first performance here of Ecclusiastics (from October 21, 1961) was before it was recorded for Oh Yeah on November 6, with almost the same band (Booker Ervin replaced Yusef Lateef on the studio date). Another example: the performance here of "Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me" is the only other recording of that tune. Of course, I don't have 100% confidence that what he's reporting is correct, but it sounds plausible. All the discographical data in the booklet can be found at the link https://mingus.onttonen.info/birdland.html; the odds are good that this is the source for the booklet's data. The odds, IMHO, are also good that the easytree reference earlier in this thread is the source for this music. There are some good photos in the booklet, especially the cover shot, but many of the inside photos of the musicians are very generic, and could range from anywhere in their careers. Having said all that, the music is the reason this package, again IMHO, is essential. It's fascinating to hear Mingus's introduction to Ysabel's Table Dance (recorded May 12, 1962): "This piece was recorded on Victor Records seven years ago, but it's been released this June." So he's playing this older tune to promote the newly-released album!

Let's put it this way: I didn't link to it.

I recently bought the Solar 3-CD collection of these recordings. Pure listening pleasure. Fidelity is great, considering the source, and the music is amazing: think of live versions of Oh Yeah, Tijuana Moods, and others of that era. The band is on fire. I consider this music more vital than the stuff recorded on the European tours. https://mingus.onttonen.info/birdland.html

Who were Savoy's big sellers in the '50's - the ones that kept the company afloat? We know that most releases don't make money, but certain artists sell enough to keep the label going. Blue Note had Jimmy Smith and Horace Silver; Prestige had Miles, Red Garland, Coltrane; Riverside had Wes and Bill Evans; who were Savoy's big money makers?

Dusty Groove is now selling this.