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He played at the Sammons in Dallas Thursday night. Unforutnately, I read about it in the paper Friday. Damn and Double Damn.

Roy and Diz (Verve).

Did anyone else see his Texas Tenors concert with David Newman a few years back in Fair Park? That was another good one, with a rather heated tenor battle at the end.

Years ago, he played at the Caravan of Dreams, and the first set was his regular group, playing bebop, and the second set Cornell Dupree came out (otherwise the same group), and they completely switched into playing blues/rhythm and blues. That was one great set.

You're fast. I just bought it this evening. The Apple store was wall-to-wall people.

At least according to her website, the release of the new MBB CD is to occur soon: In the studio, the three current bands - the MBB, the Charles Mingus Orchestra, and the smaller Mingus Dynasty - recently finished recording ten tunes for an upcoming release entitled, "I am three." The title takes its name from the first line of Mingus' autobiography, Beneath The Underdog, and refers to the different people he thought he was: the vulnerable man, the impassioned man, the observer. "He might as well have said a hundred and three," says Sue Mingus. "There were that many Minguses." The title also refers to the three different approaches to Mingus' music on this CD. On the recording, the Mingus Dynasty performs Mingus's famous gospel piece, "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and also a new arrangement by bassist Boris Kozlov of "Free Cell Block F, 'Tis Nazi USA." As Mingus once said, "titles should speak from time to time to issues that ought to be of concern." The title could probably be up-dated to "Free Cell Block Alpha One," of Abu Ghraib infamy. The Orchestra - with an exotic instrumentation that includes bassoon, French horn and bass clarinet, performs "Todo Modo" and "Chill of Death," focusing on the more orchestral side of Mingus composition. The Mingus Big Band tracks include three new arrangements by tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. He left the hospital to attend the recording sessions and to personally conduct the tracks. It was an enormously moving occasion and produced some of the "swingingest" pieces the MBB has recorded, including "Orange is the Color of her Dress," "Pedal Point Blues," and "Song with Orange." The musicians, who stayed in the studio from noon to 8 at night, along with Stubbs, included: Randy Brecker, Kenny Rampton, Jeremy Pelt, Ku-umba Frank Lacey, Conrad Herwig, Earl McIntyre, Alex Foster, Craig Handy, Jaleel Shaw, Wayne Escoffery, Abraham Burton, Boris Koslov, Johnathan Blake, John Hicks and George Colligan. The remaining material includes a Mingus composition called "Tensions" arranged by bassist Boris Kozlov, an arrangement by trombonist Robin Eubanks of "MDM" (for "Monk Duke Mingus") and a vocal by trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy of a tune Mingus wrote in the Forties called "Paris in Blue," arranged by trombonist Earl McIntyre. Of the ten tracks on the album, eight are arranged by band members, for the first time. The other two compositions ("Todo Modo" and "Chill of Death") performed by the Orchestra, are arranged by Sy Johnson. The release date is scheduled for May 2005, and video clips from the recording session will soon be available for viewing on this website.

I've read this before, but hopefully the promise will become more of a reality (from a Sue Mingus interview): While all six of the Big Band's albums are on the French label Dreyfus, Sue Mingus is stepping out on her own with "I Am Three," releasing the CD on her new label Sue City. In a twist the bassist surely would have appreciated, he indirectly inspired the endeavor. Mingus and Max Roach were among the first jazz musicians to found their own label back in the early 1950s when they created Debut, which immediately made its mark when the epochal "Jazz at Massey Hall" album captured the last meeting between bebop legends Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Roach. Sue Mingus founded Sue City after she read an article about bassist Dave Holland leaving ECM to create Dare2 Records "and he mentioned that Mingus was among the first to start his own record company," she said. "I'm going to issue not only these Mingus repertory bands, I have a bunch of unissued recordings, incredible stuff from the 1960s with Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan and Johnny Coles. There's a live album recorded at Ronnie Scott's that Columbia never released with Charles McPherson and Roy Brooks."

There's a Peck Kelly session from 1957, the very last session in volume 3 of the Mosaic Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings.

Where do I send my money for the earliest available copy?

I always use www.quickbook.com. It's an excellent site, and seems to have pretty low rates for New York hotels (relatively speaking), in all price ranges. Also, it is completely reliable in my experience.

The Mingus Big Band plays at Iridium on Tuesday and the Mingus Orchestra plays at Joe's Pub on Thursday.

Here are the current regulars, according to the Iridium site. Regulars in the 14-piece band are selected from among the following: 3 Trumpets: Randy Brecker, Eddie Henderson, Alex Sipiagin, Kenny Rampton, Jeremy Pelt, Walter White, Ryan Kisor, Earl Gardner. 3 Trombones: Conrad Herwig, Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Robin Eubanks, Clark Gayton, Luis Bonilla, Isaac Smith, Earl McIntyre, Dave Taylor, Douglas Purviance. 5 Saxophones: Seamus Blake, Craig Handy, Wayne Escoffery, John Stubblefield, Vincent Herring, Abraham Burton, Ronnie Cuber, Mike Sim, Jaleel Shaw, Lauren Sevian. Piano: David Kikoski, Orrin Evans, George Colligan, Kenny Drew Jr., John Hicks, David Budway. Bass: Boris Kozlov, Vicente Archer, Andy McKee, Duane Burno, John Benitez, Chip Jackson. Drums: Donald Edwards, Johnathan Blake, Tommy Campbell, Gene Jackson.

How about looking for 'Explosions' by the Bob James Trio? Might still be available! An early Bob James date where he is accompanied by Barre Phillips on bass and Bob Pozar on drums. Not my favorite ESP but might fit with what you are looking for. Maybe the Sun Ra, Nothing Is. The first side of the LP is pretty accessible, with great bass playing by Ronnie Boykins and some outstanding John Gilmore solo work.

I have the Commodore set, and volume 3 is way less interesting than vol. 1 and vol. 2. I wouldn't advise paying big bucks for vol. 3 unless you already have vol. 1 and 2 (and maybe not then either).

I picked up the Dizzy yesterday, and it's a pretty amazing line-up--Dizzy with Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, and Paul Gonsalves, backed up by Wynton Kelly, Wendell Marshall and J.C. Heard, and performing Dizzy Atmosphere, the Way You Look Tonight and two ballad medleys. On first listen, it sounded like outstanding music to me, with adequate sound.

Dizzy Gillespie's Sittin' In, just reissued. You get Diz, with three tenors (Hawk, Getz and Gonsalves), backed by Wynton Kelly, Wendell Marshall and J.C. Heard.

I have a very nice Sphere cd on Verve called Four For All. It was issued in 1987. Yes that's the one I have on CD. On LP, Flight Path on Electra Musician (I don't seem to have their first album). On Red, Sphere on Tour and Live At Umbria Jazz. They sounded great when they played at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth. There was virtually no one in attendance.

Sphere was an excellent band (Rouse, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams and Ben Riley). Their recordings (I'm only aware of one reissued on CD) are worth seeking out on LP, if not otherwise available. As I recall they were released on Elecktra Musician and Red.

On a bit smaller scale (3CDs), this Sun Records Blues anthology is rather good. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...6210757-2429443

I saw him play once in the mid-1980s and again in the early 1990s--both times he was not playing well; it was actually painful to hear. I would advise sticking to his many very fine recordings from the '50s and '60s

The 50's sides are great and you can't go wrong with his Contemporary albums (Meets the Rhythm Section, for example). However, I prefer his late recordings. Rather than get a narrowly focused box set, I would recommend that you sample a few of the Galaxys (for example, Art Pepper Today, Landscape, or Winter Moon).

They're also 25% off on Blue Note at the store, and in addition, they are selling 15 or 20 of the RVGs for $7.99 (at least at the Dallas Tower).

I picked up the Coleman Hawkins the other day and discovered that it has a second DVD disc which features some performance footage of Hawkins from 1950s era TV shows.

The Bethleham and Candid Out Front are the ones that I prefer and have listened to countless times. Every song on both is a gem.

Rusty Bryant Returns, recorded in 1969, with Grant Green on guitar (first recording in two years, according to the notes) and Sonny Philips on organ, plus electric alto sax.