Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 09/26/2006
Nearly 15 years after its formation, the
Mingus Big Band set up its microphones at Tokyo's
Blue Note Club on New Year's Eve 2005-2006 and did what it's been doing so admirably all along: paying homage to its inspiration in a way that would have made him proud. Fourteen members strong, the ensemble for the event, most of them fairly recent additions, included a veteran of
Charles Mingus' own Tokyo concerts of 1976, trumpeter
Jack Walrath. For the occasion, the band looked back even further though, to the '50s, rolling out and updating the arrangements of a handful of numbers
Mingus wrote in his early years:
"Bird Calls," the fiery opener
"Wham Bam," "Celia" spotlighting alto saxman
Craig Handy, and
"Prayer for Passive Resistance," which producer
Sue Mingus (
Charles' widow), notes was arranged by tenor saxist
John Stubblefield shortly before his death in 2005. With three trumpets, five saxmen (including tenor, alto, and baritone), and three trombones, the program is naturally heavy on brass-fueled arrangements, with plenty of room given over for solo blowing.
"Bird Calls," the tribute to
Charlie Parker, features rousing turns from baritonist
Ronnie Cuber, tenor
Seamus Blake, and altos
Craig Handy and
Abraham Burton, while the easy-swinging
"Free Cell Block F" opens up space for trombonists
Conrad Herwig and
Ku umba Frank Lacy,
Handy moving over to flute, and
Cuber returning on baritone. The live set (officially titled "Live in Tokyo at the Blue Note, 2005") avoids
Mingus' more difficult material in favor of accessibility, but it's consistent with the other fine work this "ghost" band has done since its inception.
~Jeff Tamarkin, All Music Guide
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