Pony Poindexter - New Orleans Fire: Live 1969

mjzee · May 15, 2023

Release date July 7:

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With the label MPS, post-war musical history was written in Germany: noble music productions with many international greats come from the Black Forest and are timelessly legendary. Some treasures from the label's archive are released by HGBSBlue on high-quality vinyl, like this hot live recording with the Pony Poindexter Quartet from1969.Poindexter, saxophonist and singer, was a native of New Orleans who came to Paris in 1964, where he lived for many years. He is credited with important impulses for the soprano saxophone in jazz, and his strongly blues-oriented style is probably related to his hometown. It was not until 1977 that he went back to the USA, where he died in 1988. In Munich he met two young Czech musicians who had a stopover there after the end of the Prague Spring before starting their successful jazz careers in the USA: Jan Hammer and Jiri (George) Mraz.Together with them, as well as the German drummer Michael Dennert (1935-2016), the US saxophonist recorded this live record in 1969, on which the four musicians move in expressive playing mood in the footsteps of their musical ancestors from New Orleans. Hammer and Mraz already show their extraordinary brilliance and maturity. Jan Hammer amazes with his earthy organ playing and Jiri Mraz with refreshing virtuosity.The Happy Life Of Pony Poindexter was the name of the release on the MPS sub-label Session back then. It has now, after more than 50 years, been re-edited, refreshed and mastered. You can still feel the sparkling power and happy gut feeling with which the music was made. Poindexter knows how to carry away the audience. Just as the musicians before him did in his hometown of New Orleans. Just hot jazz.

Joe · May 15, 2023

Intriguing!

mikeweil · May 16, 2023

This is a reissue of an LP originally released on MPS on their Session sublabel in 1970.

That issue and the re-issue both say it was recorded in 1969, but at that time Jan Hammer already was in the USA. 1968 is the date Poindexter shares in his memoirs and mentioned in the credits of a recent ENJA release which has Benny Bailey added.