The Mingus Big Band

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

Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of Love marks the 80th anniversary of Charles Mingus' birth and is the seventh recording in a series that pays tribute to his music. The CD features the talents of the Mingus Big Band, a 14-piece rotating ensemble launched in 1991 by the widow of the composer/arranger/bassist, Sue Mingus. The thematic focus of the CD is love and its ten love songs also mark the debut of the Charles Mingus Orchestra, which is featured on four of the songs. The previously unreleased "Love's Fury" features a stellar arrangement by Syl Johnson as well as the very lyrical compositions Charles Mingus never quite received recognition for…

Que Viva Mingus! is an album dedicated to Mingus' considerable output of Latin-influenced jazz. The selections here include well-known Mingus compositions like "Los Mariachis," "Dizzy Moods," "Ysabel's Table Dance," and "Cumbia and Jazz Fusion," as well as some more obscure titles like "Slippers" and "Moods in Mambo," the album's oldest number, dating from 1949. Among the standout soloists are Randy Brecker on trumpet, John Stubblefield on tenor sax, Steve Slagle on soprano and alto saxes, Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax, and Dave Kikowski on piano. This is exciting, joyous, raucous, and still modern-sounding music, as fresh and challenging as the day it was written. And you can even dance to some of it.

Bill Mobley & The Smoke Big Band - Live At Smoke (2011) [2CD] {Space Time Records}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 696 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 265 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Space Time Records | BG 1134
Jazz / Neo Bop / Modern Big Band / Trumpet

The Bill Mobley Jazz Orchestra celebrates the beginning of the third year of Monday night residence at the acclaimed NYC jazz club Smoke. In addition to being an exceptional trumpet player, Bill Mobley lends his musical genius to his wonderful compositions and arrangements.This stellar band has a new release out on Smoke Records that is getting great reviews and a lot of airplay.

What does one do when his initial album as a big-band leader sweeps up almost every award in sight and rockets straight to the top of the best-seller list? If he's bassist Dave Holland, he goes back to the drawing board and works Overtime to make sure his second one is not only as good as but in some ways even better than the first. Having listened closely, this reviewer's candid appraisal is "mission accomplished."

The centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus, in April 2022, has served to reinforce his importance in twentieth-century music. His “achievements surpass in historic and stylistic breadth those of any other major figure in jazz.” (New Grove Dictionary). Mingus could be angry, even violent, but also loving and tender, and all of these aspects of his complex character are reflected in his music. As he once said, “I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I am changing all the time.”