Jazz Saxophone Score

Charles Mingus - Epitaph (1990) {2CD Set CBS Records 466631 2}
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© 1990 CBS Records | 466631 2
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Progressive Jazz

When he passed away in 1978, Charles Mingus left behind a 40-year legacy as one of jazz's most important bassists and prolific composers. He also left unfinished his most ambitious work, EPITAPH. Originally composed for an open recording session at New York's Town Hall in 1962, EPITAPH was marked by difficulty and the subsequent release was incomplete and disappointing. The idea and score then disappeared for more than 20 years.

Chronologically, this programme of music for wind ensemble is framed by Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde, a ballet score from 1923, and the composer Anders Emilsson’s Salute the band, commissioned for the 2006 centenary of the Swedish Wind Ensemble. The remaining four compositions are all concertante works, featuring the French saxophone virtuoso Claude Delangle.

This single CD reissues all of the music from two rare Dizzy Gillespie LPs. Dating from 1963-64, the set features the trumpeter's interpretation of the score of the obscure film The Cool World (although these are not the actual performances heard in the movie) plus 11 themes from other films. Gillespie, who is joined by James Moody (on tenor, alto and flute), pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Chris White and drummer Rudy Collins, was in peak form during that era and hopefully all of his other Philips recordings will also be reissued by Verve in the future. Although the liner notes deal only with The Cool World, the other set is actually of greater interest. Gillespie uplifts such tunes as the "Theme from Exodus," "Moon River," "Days of Wine and Roses," "Never on Sunday" and "Walk on the Wild Side," turning them into swinging jazz. The Cool World pieces (all composed by Mal Waldron) are also worth hearing although they are not as memorable overall. This set is a real historical curiosity and, although not essential, it is a release that should please Dizzy Gillespie fans while reminding others of how great a trumpeter he was before his long decline.

Rova & Nels Cline Singers - The Celestial Septet (2010) {New World Records 80708-2 rec 2008}
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© 2008, 2010 New World Records | 80708-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Avant-Garde Jazz / Guitar / Saxophone

Of course, members of the distinguished avant-garde sax quartet Rova and the raucous avant jazz trio Nels Cline Singers (in which nobody sings, in case you wonder) have intermingled before on a few occasions – the Ascension project being one. Still, to bring the two together (and their audiences) and to write a repertoire especially for this short-lived septet had to require some guts and determination. And it was effort well invested, since The Celestial Septet is a thrilling record, and one of Rova's most artistically successful collaborations. Recorded in 2008 on two separate occasions, the CD features five works ranging between two and 25 minutes in duration. Strangely, both the shortest and longest piece are Larry Ochs compositions.