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Charlie Ventura--Adventure With Charlie (King)

A pretty good day in the vinyl find department: Terry Gibbs (Emarcy) Herbie Mann--Sam Most Quintet (Bethleham) Milt Jackson--Ballads and Blues (Atlantic black label) Ahmad Jamal Trio (Epic) Charlie Ventura--Adventure with Charlie (King) Dave Brubeck--Time Further Out (Columbia six eyes). All originals, I believe. Less than $45 for the lot.

The Mingus Tyrone Guthrie concert was reissued by Fantasy on LP. I have a copy of the reissue.

More Sue Mingus quotes about unissued material (from allaboutjazz interview) “I have a number of tapes in boxes and they are stored over at Sony Studios over here on the west side [New York City],” says Mingus. “These were old—however many inches they are—tapes from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Out of fear for their disintegrating I had them transferred to DAT to CD, whatever. In the course of that we found a number of things. I used some of it on our [Mingus Big Band] Blues and Politics CD (Dreyfus Records, 1989). I used some of it to open one of our CDs where Charles is speaking about Selma [Alabama].” The Cornell tapes surfaced in the course of transferring the tapes to digital.... “These other tapes have never seen the light of day, so there’s an excitement about that because it’s new material. It’s not that I couldn’t have done it earlier; it’s just that there are only so many hours in a day and we have a lot of projects. I have been focusing more on the live bands that are carrying on the legacy. With time, we will go back and release some of these great legendary recordings by the master himself.” The recordings she refers to are all live sets. “There’s a marvelous recording at Ronnie Scott’s in London that was recorded with mobile trucks by Sony, actually by Columbia Records, in the early ‘70s before they dumped most of their jazz artists, including Mingus. As a kind of booby prize, I guess, they gave us back these very professional tapes. So they’re in the can. And there’s a concert from somewhere in Germany. There are a number of things. Charles and I had a record company called Charles Mingus Enterprises and we put out Part 2 of a number of concerts, one at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the other at Town Hall. That may be the next, a combination of the Town Hall concert and then these others tapes, the Part 2s that have not been released,” she says, adding, “I don’t know. There’s a treasure trove of material and we will eventually get it out.”

Charles Mingus--Tonight at Noon (Atlantic mono, orange and purple label)

Ahmad Jamal--But Not For Me and Happy Moods (Argo)

Charles Mingus--Mingus Revisited (Limelight, 1965 gatefold reissue, mono).

Yes, Peter Green on Green Manalishi at the Boston Tea Party.

Maybe they should sign Santana? Black Magic Marker is my favorite Santana song.

Concord's black magic marker is now dry.

One in the Blues series that I just picked up and heartily recommend is Johnny Sparrow (and his Bows and Arrows). He's a fine tenor player I've never heard of before--but he played with Jay McShann, Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton in the 1940s. The music could easily fit in the jazz Classics series, as it ranges from a jazz/early rhythm and blues hybrid to mainstream jazz, mostly with unidentified musicians. He had one instrumental hit on the r&b charts, Sparrow's Flight, but these recordings are said to constitute his complete work as a leader. He's not Bird, or the Hawk, but the Sparrow is indeed a worthy player.

I also recommend Three and Meets Joey DeFrancesco, both on Leaning House. The three Leaning House CDs are all available from amazon and/or from amazon sellers.

I also recommend Three and Meets Joey DeFrancesco, both on Leaning House.

The Jazz Connection has been closed for seven or eight years. I saw Marchel there, playing with Joey DeFrancesco. One of my favorite Marchel Ivery concerts was at the Caravan of Dreams years ago, where his group played a set of bebop standards for the first set--then for the second set Cornell Dupree joined the group, and the style changed rather radically to blues and grease, and he sounded masterful in both contexts. Another was the Texas tenors concert in Fair Park a few years back, with Marchel playing first, then David Newman, and a final tenor battle.

That's the one where Hendrix used the name "Lawrence Welk"?

General rule is a limit of $20 per single CD. Once I spent $30 for a Japanese import, but that was a very rare exception.

Actually, I would say that it was fairly modestly attended. It was easy to see any concert you desired, in my experience. I hope they are able to do it again, but I suspect that attendance fell well short of their hopes.

Stanley Jordan at the Iridium.

I had a great time at this festival. I wasn't able to make it until the Friday night concerts. First off, the Avery Sharpe Trio with Onaje Allan Gumbs on piano and Winard Harper on drums. A very good group. Next, Geri Allen Trio. Interesting set, including interaction with a very skilled tap dancer. Onaje Allan Gumbs Sextet, with Mark Shim on tenor. One of the best sets I saw at the festival. Supergroup time, the McCoy Tyner Quartet with Gary Bartz, Stanley Clarke and Jack DeJohnette. McCoy ended at around midnight, and about 75% of the crowd left after his performance. This was a big mistake. Pat Martino was the last concert of the night, and he was in masterful, burning form from the outset. Mostly he played Wes Montgomery tunes. This performance was great. Saturday, I had a bit of time to look at the exhibitions--the highlight of course was the Mosaic booth. Lots of sales ($10 for singles, $35 for Selects, and a number of the black boxes at sale prices also). At 3, Sonny Fortune Quartet. Certainly my favorite saxophonist heard at this festival. Next, Frank Kimbrough Trio. I wasn't familiar with him, but really enjoyed his set. After taking a break, my next concert was the Don Friedman Trio. He really sounds as good or better than on his Riverside recordings. A really fine trio performance. Vincent Herring with Jeremy Pelt. A bit of an odd group, with a very loud, funk styled electric bassist, but good playing from the horn players. Nice version of Norwegian Wood, of all things. Roy Haynes Quartet. With Jaleel Shaw. Nice set, by the amazingly energetic octagenarian. Finally, at 12:40, the Stanley Clarke Group begins the final set. I've never been a fan particularly, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But in fact, this concert was perhaps the most thrilling of the festival. Performing with violin, keyboards, and drums, Clarke was masterful and electrifying on four pieces. GoodBye Pork Pie Hat (on electric bass), Confirmation (trio with violin and drums), another piece for the quartet (name escapes me), and solo (amazing). The group was unknown to me, but they were superb (if very young in appearance). It was a fitting climax to the festival.

The same set list, I believe (my memory is a bit blurred by the intervening 11 concerts I saw over the last two days at the Jazz Improv festival). A slightly different band, as Orrin Evans was on piano, and Mark Turner was not present, rather there was Bill McHenry on tenor. Actually, Wallace Roney sounded pretty strong, probably the best I've ever heard him. It was quite enjoyable to hear Shorter's compositions in a large group context.

I was there Thursday night.

Last night, at the Iridium--David Weiss, A Tribute to Wayne Shorter, with special guest Wallace Roney. Nice to hear Wayne Shorter compositions played by a large group. They are there again tonight, with James Spaulding as the special guest.

Bill Charlap Trio at the Village Vanguard--Not my cup of tea, I was pretty bored. Then, David Schnitter Quartet at Smalls--A definite improvement, with Mark Soskin on piano.

Last night I saw the Mingus Dynasty at the Iridium. They were in excellent form--led by Craig Handy, the sextet also included Orrin Evans on piano, Boris Koslow on the Mingus bass, and Kenny Rampton on trumpet. Highlights included Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Diane, Noddin' Your Head Blues, Thrice Upon a Theme (I never thought I would see a performance of this obscure Mingus composition), and Cumbia and Jazz Fusion.

Dave Brubeck--Jazz Impressions of the U.S.A. (Columbia six eyes).