Sue City Records

[kh1958]

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."

[sheldonm]

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."

....is it "sue" as in litigation ????

[JSngry]

From the "where have I heard that before?" file:

[jazzbo]

Here's hoping by some miracle she gets some of these out!

[kh1958]

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.

[bertrand]

Is it really 'Free Cell Block F' that they recorded, or 'Remember Rockefeller At Attica'? Between the Changes album and the Montreux DVD, the titles are not consistent.

Bertrand.