duaneiac

I keep hoping that that book will eventually see the light of day. In the meantime, there is also this outstanding related biography to enjoy:

Enjoyable performances, with a set list that ranges from the "1812 Overture" to "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat" (due to early childhood exposure, that is a song I will always hear sung in the voice of Bugs Bunny) to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and since this tour of Japan took place in Dec. of 2000, there are also a few Christmas carols which are a little odd to hear as we approach the 4th of July.

That's Marshall Royal in the center of the sax section.

"Amen", as they say . . . Now playing:

Disc 1 & 2 of 2.

Don't miss out on seeing the two of them perform together: This was my favorite of the albums they made together:

Alto Saxophone – Donald Harrison Bass – Lonnie Plaxico Drums – Art Blakey Piano – Mulgrew Miller Tenor Saxophone – Jean Toussaint Trumpet – Terence Blanchard Recorded March 17, 1985 at Studio 44, Monster, Netherlands Followed by Art Blakey - drums Bill Hardman - trumpet Ladji Camara - flute, vocals (on 7) David Schnitter - tenor saxophone Albert Dailey - piano Chin Yoshio Suzuki - bass

I have those five and they are all good albums too! Did Muse ever reissue that Earl Hines concert on CD? It's a great one. but one of many great albums by Earl Hines from that "comeback" phase of his career, so perhaps this one got overlooked?

Oh, I get the "cheesy concepts" part of the deal. More than a few of the tracks I have sampled online have a very "dated" quality about them. Sometimes even the dated or cheesy tracks have their own charm, but there is always a danceable beat. I'm sure a complete albums collection might be overkill, but if they could at least put out some of the strongest albums, maybe 2 LPs on 1 CD, Justicia para Mongo!

Mongo Santamaria's albums for Columbia have been poorly served in the CD area. Columbia put out a couple of compilation CDs, but not much else. I don't know if his albums sold a lot back in the 60's, but if you ever find any of those albums in a used record shop, it's obvious they sure got played a lot. I see a few of these albums are now available on Amazon as "on demand" CDRs, but it sure would be nice to have a Complete Columbia Albums Collection for Mongo Santamaria. It would be a shame for music like this -- perfect music for sipping something cool in the shade on a warm summer afternoon -- to be lost and forgotten. (Warning -- Do not play this video if you are adamantly opposed to jazz flute. There's a lot of it here.)

Years ago, I went to see Roberta Gambarini perform at the San Jose Jazz Festival. I had no idea who would be in her supporting band, but when I arrived at the venue where the concert was to be, I was intrigued by one of the most bare-bones drum kits I'd ever seen on a professional stage: just a bass drum, a mounted snare, a mounted tom and a ride cymbal. When the band came out, the drummer looked familiar, but it wasn't until she introduced the band that I found out it was Jake Hanna. For me, the rest of that concert was not about the singer, but about the master class in jazz drumming put on by Mr. Hanna. He did everything he needed to do on that scaled down kit; i don't think either he or the audience missed any of the other instruments which could have supplemented that kit. And he seemed to be having a blast the whole time. That was the only time I ever saw him perform, so I don't know -- was that bare kit his regular set-up? Had his years of musical experience brought him to simplify things down to just the basics? Or did an airline lose some of his luggage?

One of my favorite Jimmy Rushing recordings, the seasonably appropriate "June Night".

And the album cover conveniently shows you the proper moves so you too can dazzle the crowds with the latest dance craze sweeping the nation -- Everybody do "The Charlie's Angels"! (Be careful -- Step 3 gets a bit "hippy".)

Disc 1 and 2 of 2.