mikeweil

They reissued a lot of recordings from small 1940's West Coast labels, and did it well.

https://www.discogs.com/master/544799-Paulo-Moura-Confusão-Urbana-Suburbana-E-Rural

Now this finally captures the energy Mombasa displayed on their gigs!

https://www.discogs.com/release/4714833-João-Donato-Lugar-Comum

discogs has a list with all volumes. https://www.discogs.com/label/891985-The-Centennial-Collection As I don't have the Hawkins, I can't say what the videos are. Turns out I skipped the Goodman. I read on the web the choice of tunes on the CD was not convincing and the video material chosen wasn't either.

This compilation was given to me by a friend many years ago, and it's totally satisfying for me:

Fantastic idea!

Now the second album:

I think I have all but the Hawkins. It positively changed my view of the Glen Miller band. Nice idea to add the DVD.

I am heavily biased as I saw this band live about five times. There are sound samples on the Sonorama label's Bancamp pages, they reissued this and the second Mombasa album. https://sonoramarecords.bandcamp.com/album/african-rhythms-blues

Must be this one: That's the band before Tom joined, but still sounds very lively. Had forgotten about this and just ordered a copy myself.

How refreshing after listening to some samples of the recent Keith Jarrett release .....

Whenever I get an opportunity, I will give it a listen.

IIRC fans and critics in Germany had mixed feelings about his musical directions. He rose to first fame with McCoy Tyner and Weather Report and then turned to funky beats that others, IMHO, did better. I found his playing in Herbie Hancock's band rather uninspired, too much heavy disco beat. But with those high heeled boots he used to wear he couldn't execute intricate bass drum patterns. His audience here expected more jazz from him, but he did not give them what they wanted.

They were based in Berlin and touring Germany all the time. I saw them five times, I think, Tom Nicholas was my first conga drum teacher. Frankly, I think none of their albums caught their groove when playing live. Lou Blackburn and Carmell Jones knew each other from their California days and both were members of Berlin radio big bands for several years, but I think Belgium based trumpeter Doug Lucas fitted better into Mombasa.

Played this twice today. I love this album. It shows what a great tenor saxist Eddie Harris was.