It's too bad this one is so rare, it's quite good. Slop is probably the best known track, and is Get It In Yer Soul's little cousin. Song With Orange is underrated (the liner notes call it one of Mingus's less memorable tunes) and makes nice use of muted brass. Gunsling Bird, fully called, "If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Lot of Dead Copycats", so you can guess it's a tribute piece. Things Ain't What They Used to Be and Mood Indigo are two lengthy Ellington covers, the former being my favorite Ellington piece. Far Wells, Mill Valley has an awesome title but is an okay song.
Every tune a classic, every player a master, every tune sounding new, every player keeping the spirit of Charles Mingus alive and swinging! –Michael Bourne, WBGO
Most of the Mingus Dynasty, which features the same lineup as Mingus Ah Um and has a similar feel but is less driving. Inexplicable inclusion of "Shoes of the…." from Let My Children Hear Music, recorded twelve years later. All great music. ~ AllMusic
Avid Jazz continues its occasional Three Classic album plus series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Don Ellis complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details.
“How Time Passes”; “New Ideas”; “Essence”; plus 4 tracks featuring Don Ellis from the Charles Mingus album “Dynasty”
Three early albums from vastly under-rated trumpeter, composer and bandleader Don Ellis showing the direction he was to follow over the next fifteen years or so before his tragically early death at age, just 44! If you check out the names of the guys Don was playing with in the early sixties it will give you a clue as to where his music was heading. In New York, Don had met fellow jazz searchers like Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy and George Russell. On our three selections you will hear him playing with a new breed of upcoming jazz men like Jaki Byard, Ron Carter…
Avid Jazz continues its occasional Three Classic album plus series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Don Ellis complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details.
“How Time Passes”; “New Ideas”; “Essence”; plus 4 tracks featuring Don Ellis from the Charles Mingus album “Dynasty”
Three early albums from vastly under-rated trumpeter, composer and bandleader Don Ellis showing the direction he was to follow over the next fifteen years or so before his tragically early death at age, just 44! If you check out the names of the guys Don was playing with in the early sixties it will give you a clue as to where his music was heading. In New York, Don had met fellow jazz searchers like Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy and George Russell. On our three selections you will hear him playing with a new breed of upcoming jazz men like Jaki Byard, Ron Carter…
Reissue with the latest remastering and the original cover artwork. Comes with a description written in Japanese. George Adams and Don Pullen knock it out of the park on this one – finding great company in each other's presence, and really moving things forward in the process! The set begins with a long track titled "Mingus Metamorphosis", and that really sums up the spirit of the record – an 80s reworking of all the ideas that the players had learned from Mingus, but with an individual, personal sense that's all their own – and very different than some of the more standard modes of the Mingus Dynasty group that continued the legacy in a more direct manner. Adams is bold one minute, lyrical the next – and plays both tenor and flute – alongside Pullen on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums.
A talented and adventurous altoist whose career has gone through several phases, John Handy started playing alto in 1949. After moving to New York in 1958, he had a fiery period with Charles Mingus (1958-1959) that resulted in several passionate recordings that show off his originality; he also recorded several dates as a leader for Roulette. Handy led his own bands during 1959-1964, and played with Mingus at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival, but it was at the following year's festival that he was a major hit, stretching out with his quintet (which included violinist Michael White and guitarist Jerry Hahn) on two long originals. Soon, Handy was signed to Columbia, where he recorded his finest work (three excellent albums) during 1966-1968…