A pivotal album in the development of the use of the Hammond organ in jazz – and Charles Earland's first exposure to a large audience! Durign the 60s, Charles was bumping around the Philly scene quite a bit – and recorded some small group indie sides that first gave a glimpse of his unique sound on the organ. But with this record, Earland really broke out wide – and hit a huge audience that made him one of the most in-demand players of the early 70s!
A legendary concert by one of the great unrecorded bands in free jazz history is here at last. WEBO, the third installment in the Black Editions Archive series of previously unreleased recordings from Milford Graves' private tape library, roars into the station June 21, 2024. For the first time, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, & William Parker —three lions of the Black American jazz avant-garde— are finally heard together on record, presented here across three audiophile-quality LPs for two brutalizingly joyous hours of real ju-ju & musical mastery.
Recorded live at the Antibes Jazz Festival in 1960. The group that Charles Mingus brought to the Antibes jazz festival in 1960 was likely the most powerful group, pound-for-pound, that the bassist ever led. The front line was comprised of trumpeter Ted Curson, alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy, and, for this stint, tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin. Without a piano for most of this Antibes concert, the band relied on a combustion that Mingus created with his antiphonal compositions and a gospel bent. Dolphy, Curson, and Ervin sound jubilant on "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and then full of longing on "Prayer for Passive Resistance." But it's on "Folk Forms No1" that you hear how much leap the group has without a formal harmonic anchor. Mingus chugs along, using his lowest-end bustle as a backbone for rhythmic variations across the top. As usual, drummer Dannie Richmond cracks the percussion with speed-shifting exactness. As if that all weren't enough, one of bebop's quirkier architects, Bud Powell, joins the band for a touching read of "I'll Remember April".
For almost 60 years, Elder Charles Beck enjoyed widespread recognition as a singer, pianist and trumpeter, as well as a preacher, church leader and civil rights activist. From 1930 until the late 1950s Beck recorded for Decca, Bluebird, Gotham, King and Chess labels. His lively services at his church in Buffalo, New York gave Beck renown even in folk music circles.