Choosing quality Mingus albums from the 50s and 60s is a bit like spearing fish a barrel. Even so, this ’59 date recorded at the long since defunct Nonagon Art Gallery stands out in my personal pantheon of picks. There are many plusses that make it so, from the pared down powerhouse frontline of altoist John Handy and tenorist Booker Ervin, to the sharp fidelity that captures the Baron’s bass in all its magesterial glory. Cravat connoisseur Dannie Richmond is also in inspired form, closing in in extrasensory conversation with his employer on the closing empyrean ballad “Alice’s Wonderland” a harbinger of telepathic colloquies to come on the pair’s Candid and Atlantic ventures. An extra element of cool comes with the news that “Nostalgia in Times Square” would serve as soundtrack grist for John Cassavettes first stab at feature-length filmmaking several years later, the seminal Shadows. Ervin and Handy are magnificent foils for one another, contrastive and amicably combative, going the distance in a telepathic, truncating series of chases on “No Private Income Blues.” Mingus indulges in some of his most capacious and eloquent solos of the period, his stout, strikingly adroit fingers coming up with bracing improvisations that put his peers on immediate notice. Then there’s Rudy Van Gelder’s recording, which captures all but the pinch-hitting pianist Richard Wyands in some of the some of the best sound of the period. Filling in for workshop regular Horace Parlan, Wyands’ was a bit of the odd man out, but he acquits himself well to the setting and makes good use of the generous solo space accorded him. The only frown-worthy foible comes in the Michael Cuscuna disclosure that four more tracks performed at the gig escaped recorded capture. In light of the uniform quality of what’s here that error on the part of Van Gelder almost seems unforgivable.
Posted by derek on March 11, 2007 5:27 PMWell, it was apparently common practice back then only to record the tracks that would likely end up on an album (cf. the Coltrane Village Vanguard tapes of 1961 for another instance). Can't blame RvG for following period practice, I'd think.
Posted by: nd at March 12, 2007 12:34 PMPeriod practice or not, it’s still a damn shame. Moreover, I’m not sure the Village Vanguard tapes are the best point of comparison. The small handful of tracks appearing on the Impulse LP were culled from a much larger cache of material eventually collected in the cd box set. A similar situation surrounds Rudy’s documentation of Rollins’ VV stand, originally a single LP, later expanded to three. Imagine if he had exercised the same practice for the Nonagon date. Cuscuna’s notes cite reviews of the concert that mention the performance of “Take the A Train,” “Jelly Roll Jellies,” “Billie’s Bounce” and “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting,” easily enough material for an additional LP.
Posted by: derek at March 12, 2007 2:57 PMYes there was a lot of additional material from the Coltrane Vanguard session, eventually released on a 4-CD set, but even that is substantially incomplete because the label only recorded material that they intended to issue (hence the considerable duplication of tunes among the tracks that survive). I gather that part of the thinking was that they weren't going to waste tape on tunes that Coltrane had already recorded for Atlantic, as his contract prohibited rerecording stuff from his Atlantic period for Impulse.
No question that it'd be nice to have the unrecorded material from the Mingus date, it's just that Rudy van Gelder's actions aren't "unforgivable" given that it's likely he was not calling the shots on what to record.
Posted by: nd at March 12, 2007 7:48 PMI'll have to check the booklet on the Trane VV set to confirm, but I'm pretty sure that not ALL of the material recorded was initially intended for release. Iirc, Bob Thiele set Rudy up in the club and asked him to record what he could, from which Thiele and Trane would then decide to what to issue. The duplication of tunes comes primarily from different sets on different nights, Trane's live repertoire was quite narrow at the time. I don't think we have to argue that 4 discs worth of prime material (even if it's a fraction of a whole) is better than a mere LP's worth.
Otherwise, if it makes you feel better, I'll nix "almost", retract "unforgivable" and replace it with "unfortunate." Cool?
Posted by: derek at March 13, 2007 5:27 AMRe: the VV sessions: see the note on p.36 of the booklet that goes with the 4-CD set.
Posted by: nd at March 13, 2007 7:10 AMThis is one of my favorite Mingus releases, with 'At Antibes.' But my number three pick seems to have finally gotten reissued on disc. I stumbled into a Virgin at the Berlin train station and was happy to see the Mingus America LP, 'Blue Bird,' finally reissued as the 'Complete America Sessions,' but, I was disappointed that it was made into a double disc with a a second disc made up of primarily false starts and incomplete numbers. At first I was excited to see an extra disc as I hoped there was something solid on there. Anyone heard the other disc and care to comment on it?
Posted by: Ted at March 17, 2007 9:23 AMRight on, T. Antibes is tops. I still remember stumbling across it @ the U District Tower in your company way back in '93.
FYI: the beauty below has a slated international street date of 5/21
Charles Mingus Sextet w/ Eric Dolphy – Cornell 1964 (Blue Note)
Disc One:
1. ATFW You 4:42
2. Sophisticated Lady 4:23
3. Fables of Faubus 29:42
4. Orange Was the Colour of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk 15:05
5. Take the “A” Train 17:28
Disc Two:
1. Meditations 31:36
2. So Long Eric 15:18
3. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling 6:07
4. Jitterbug Waltz 9:59
Johnny Coles, tpt; Dolphy, as, bcl, flt; Clifford Jordan, ts; Jaki Byard, p; Dannie Richmond, d.
Posted by: derek at March 18, 2007 3:35 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................