Charles Mingus: The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65
We are pleased to announce “Charles Mingus - The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65 (Town Hall, Amsterdam, Monterey & Minneapolis).” It chronicles the essential live performances of this genius of modern music as his compositions achieved a depth and complexity we would come to know as Mingus’s most signature work. It includes (on the earlier recordings) the brilliant Eric Dolphy, along with Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond, Johnny Coles, and Clifford Jordan — certainly one of the best assemblages of musicians ever.
The music ranges from his interpretations of Ellington, tributes to his musicians (“Praying With Eric”), an exuberant celebration of Art Tatum and Fats Waller by Jaki Byard, an enormously ambitious portrait of bop called “Parkeriana,” and Mingus’s own spectaculars: “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk;” “Meditations,” “Fable of Faubus,” and “So Long Eric.”
Mosaic’s box set includes an essay and track by track analysis by Mingus biographer Brian Priestley and many rare photographs from the concerts. Like all of Mosaic’s sets, our release is strictly limited. Our last Mingus set sold out and will never be available again. Please order yours. This is truly a find worth hearing, worth savoring, and worth collecting.
-Alan Goodman, Mosaic Records Brochure
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Charles Mingus Documentary: Fables Of Bass
NPR’s Jazz Profile of Charles Mingus hosted by Nancy Wilson is an insightful look at one of the most unique and talented artists in jazz. The story is told through the words of many including Mingus, Max Roach and Nat Hentoff among others.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Listen To Charles Mingus Tracks
“Copa City Titty” (aka “O.P. Junior”) makes its first official recorded appearance on our Mosaic set. It’s a great theme and Mingus played it occasional in the early ‘60s and again in the early ‘70s. Fortunately, Mingus had tape rolling when he played this version with his “favorite quintet.” Charles McPherson is absolutely on fire from the first note of his solo.
Parkeriana was a favorite performance vehicle for Mingus in 1964 perhaps because Eric Dolphy and Clifford Jordan just chewed up the changes. The piece is a tapestry of Charles Parker tunes woven into Tadd Dameron’s Hot House. Dolphy is absolutely incandescent on this previously unissued version from the 1964 Town Hall concert.
Listen to Track: Copa City Titty… Listen to Track: Parkerania… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
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Charles Mingus Documentary: Fables Of Bass
NPR’s Jazz Profile of Charles Mingus hosted by Nancy Wilson is an insightful look at one of the most unique and talented artists in jazz. The story is told through the words of many including Mingus, Max Roach and Nat Hentoff among others.
-Michael Cuscuna
Listen To NPR Documentary… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter
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The Six Best Jazz Records For People Who Hate Jazz
One would expect Ryan Wasoba’s blog on “The Six Best Jazz Records For People Who Hate Jazz” to include crowd-pleasers like “Kind Of Blue” or “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” or “Poinciana.” But Ryan is targeting people who hate jazz that is retro and complacent. So he jumps into the deep end of the pool with 6 magnificent recordings that cover the last forty years beginning with Dolphy, Coltrane, Hutcherson and Hill and moving through to guitarist Mary Halvorson. A lot more fun than I was anticipating.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Louis Armstrong on the Beats
This is a funny little piece on the typical ‘50s disconnect. The video features Louis Armstrong’s title tune form “The Beat Generation”, a typical superficial Hollywood treatment of a sub culture. Beyond good reefer, I don’t think Satchmo had anything at all in common with the beats. Wonder what today’s commercials with hip-hop selling phone service will look like in 20 years.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Robert Crumb’s Obsession with Records
Looks like those of us addicted to collecting records, and jazz records in particular, are in even more distinguished company. Here’s an interview from Discoholic Corner with celebrated cartoon artist Robert Crumb, who is forthright in divulging his obsession.
-Nick Moy
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Charles Lloyd: Looking Back and Forward
It’s hard to believe saxophonist Charles Lloyd is 75: he sounds so fresh and vital — in many respects better and more primed for challenges than ever. But 75 he is, as Patrick Jarrenwattananon and Walter Ray Watson respectfully note in this NPR retrospective, peppered with audio clips from his remarkable career.
-Nick Moy
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Read MoreJames P. Johnson: Stride Piano Master
“Riffs”, an OKeh recording from 1929, is a perfect example of James P. Johnson’s Harlem stride style. Bob Hilbert’s excellent notes to our ninth Mosaic release, The Complete Edmond Hall / James P. Johnson / Sidney De Paris / Vic Dickenson Blue Note Sessions, defines his playing as “…always accurate, sure and perfectly articulated, and it always swung. He had a beautiful touch, instantly identifiable to anyone familiar with his recordings, a powerful left hand and a right hand that ‘sang while it danced’, in the words of one critic”. Johnson was even more improvisational than some others in the stride style as Hilbert remarks, “Due to the complexity of stride piano, most performers develop patterns from which they construct solos. Recordings show that their ‘improvisations’ remain little changed from take to take. With James P., however, spontaneity was the rule”.
-Scott Wenzel
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Talking Jazz and Saxophone with Charles McPherson
This interview with the underrated and magnificent alto saxophonist Charles McPherson is made all the more fascinating because the interviewer is San Francisco reedman Mel Martin. As a failed saxophonist, I find their conversations of the performance and action and timbre of various saxophones to be as fascinating as their musical discourse.
-Michael Cuscuna
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