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Music CD - Cornell 1964
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Music CD: Cornell 1964
List Price: $24.98
Our Price: $15.72
Your Save: $ 9.26 ( 37% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Tracks:
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1. Opening
2. ATFW You
3. Sophisticated Lady
4. Fables Of Faubus
5. Orange Was the Coulour Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk
6. That the 'A' Train
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0094639221028
Format: Live
Label: Blue Note Records
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Release Date: 2007-07-17
Studio: Blue Note Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Just fantastic
Comment: It's been said here already - the music on these discs is extraordinary. Mingus's solo piece "Sophisticated Lady" and the group performance of "Take the A-Train" alone are worth the price of this set.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Fun night for Charles Mingus
Comment: This CD is one of those 'long lost' live jazz discs that've popped up recently. Mingus' 1964 concerts were fairly well documented, and this is another to add to the list. The CD opens up with two solos - Jaki Byard plays a solo spot, and Mingus plays a bass solo (with some soft piano in the background). These are okay, the bass isn't recorded as well as I'd like for a solo spot, but not the main point of the show. With the full band, Mingus tears up "Fables Of Faubus". It's long, but not one of those songs you wish they'd end. "Orange Was The Color..." has some very good moments, but in the second rank of this show. "Take The 'A' Train" is very good - Ellington was Mingus' favorite to cover. The second disc starts with "Meditations", which is a long complex piece, but very good. "So Long Eric" has good, but also wandering, moments. "When Irish Eyes" has a spoken intro that gets laughs (though it's hard to hear the dialogue), but the music is another second-ranker. "Jitterbug Waltz" has some great Dolphy flute, and brings things to a close. Overall, it's a very good disc. It's not as good as "Mingus At Antibes", and I've heard the 1964 Paris concert CD is better than this one.
One of the notable things is that Mingus and company are in a very good mood. During a Dannie Richmond drum solo there a waves of laughter coming from the audience. It's a shame there isn't a video that'd show why. Mingus's stage patter also gets laughs. Everyone in the band also throws in musical quotes from all over the place. In addition to jazz quotes, there are bits of children's, folk, and popular songs. This is recommended for all Mingus fans and anyone looking for a good jazz concert CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: excellent service and product
Comment: Our experience witht his vendor was excellent. Timely shipping and product arrived in excellent condition. Received what we ordered at the price we ordered. Would do business with them again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Here's Johnny! But this one is not quite the equal of the later concert in Paris.
Comment: Following upon the first-time release of last year's "Mingus At UCLA '65," which afforded penetrating if uneven glimpses of the Mingus creative psyche, this latest two-disc release offers at once more satisfying music and a fuller picture of another, earlier, smaller but better Mingus ensemble--the fabled 1964 touring unit that would be recorded later in the same year in Europe. Though Dolphy understandably will always be a magnet, each of the soloists is heard to maximum advantage. Byard opens with a solo that's equal parts James P. Johnson and Art Tatum, and Mingus follows with a "Sophisticated Lady" that lives up to the epithet in the song's title; Clifford Jordan issues another wake-up call to his undeniable talent; and the elfin, enigmatic loner, Johnny Coles, rather than being MIA (as on the previously released European recording), has ample space to remind us why he was Gil Evans' favorite trumpet player after Miles. Dolphy's flute is heard to advantage on "Jitterbug Waltz"; Coles' less so on "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." The audio is better than has been reported (Richmond's drums are distant and muffled in the mix and the maelstrom gets a bit muddy during the heated ensemble passages), leaving the Mingus or Dolphy "completist" few excuses to let this one pass by.
Rate "Mingus at Cornell 1964" closer to 4 1/2 stars and just behind the same Mingus group recorded in Paris on the Verve release of several years ago: "The Great Charles Mingus Concert." As welcome as Coles is on the present Blue Note recording, he's neither a deal maker nor breaker. Moreover, the 5-member Mingus "sextet" seems to go the extra mile to make up for the absence of Coles on the Paris date. The playing is more fiery, the exchanges between Dolphy and Jordan more heated and exciting, the all-around behavior of Mingus, musically and otherwise, more responsive to the crowd and occasion. Compare the exchanges between Jordan and Dolphy on "So Long, Eric" on both recordings; compare Jordan's inspired, extended solo during the later "Fables of Faubus" with the earlier one heard here. Decisive, and in favor of the Paris concert. Finally, the audio on "The Great Charles Mingus Concert," while not exactly pristine, is more "present" and clearly defined.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great album
Comment: The sender is in a quick response of sending out the album.
For the album,
The hype factor was cranked up considerably in 2005 for the unearthed recording of two jazz legends: John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk's At Carnegie Hall (Blue Note). Things have cooled down a tad since that momentous release but just as exciting and equally important is Cornell 1964 featuring the Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy.
Mingus, the powerful enigmatic bassist, band-leader and composer, was as controversial as he was dynamic. Dolphy, an absolutely brilliant musician (alto sax, bass clarinet, and flute), whose short lived musical career (he died a few months after this concert in 1964) still leaves a vivid mark in jazz today. The chance to hear them together is a treat for longtime admirers and newcomers alike.
But this is more than just a meeting of two giants because we also get a chance to witness Mingus' illustrious quintet which included lesser known yet stunning musicians: Jaki Byard (piano), Johnny Coles (trumpet), Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), and Dannie Richmond (drums). Mingus always ran a tight ship, tolerating nothing less than excellence. With this band, the musicians not only meet his criteria but also deliver some stellar performances.
The two-CD recording covers everything from Mingus' epic "Fables of Faubus," (written as a direct protest against Civil Rights injustices in 1957) to a jubilant rendition of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" as the band engages in some light hearted fun. There is an air that the vibe was stress free (in contrast to some of Mingus' engagements) and that they were clearly enjoying themselves and the receptive audience.
There are many highlights from everyone: Byard's exhaustive range on "ATFW You"--included bebop, ragtime, classical and more. Mingus' gregarious fretwork--injected with humor and an unflinching presence on "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk" as Coles' sweet muted trumpet harmonizes with Jordan's warm tenor and Dolphy's throaty bass clarinet. Each voice glows against the blues/swing melody.
They "Take The A Train" to new destinations of swing as Mingus and Richmond thrill the audience with boisterous solos. Dolphy played jazz flute like no one else, as heard on "Jitterbug Waltz," brings the recording to a satisfying conclusion. There are many bright moments on this resurrected historical document. The shadows of these players still looms today and this concert is a testament of their greatness that will hopefully endure for years to come. - By Mark F. Turner
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Editorial Reviews:
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The band that Charles Mingus, the doyen of jazz's mercurial polymaths, pulled together for his early-1964 European tour was phenomenal—and here they are playing 130 minutes worth of live music no one's ever heard. Pianist Jaki Byard, alto saxophonist/flutist/bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and longtime drummer Dannie Richmond came together for the Mingus tour knowing that Dolphy would be staying in Europe after their gigs—he died tragically just 12 weeks after this gig. And Coles would come perilously close to death himself with a stomach ulcer within a month of the band's Cornell date, forcing him off the tour. So the music here is particularly special and musically resplendent. There is considerable overlap with the The Great Concert of Charles Mingus, but that 2-CD set is sans the ailing Coles, who fattens the sound here: playing beautifully as "Johnny O'Coles" on the unlikely "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." But Eric Dolphy, his every breath is poetry: from his palpitating bass clarinet on the pugnacious "Fables of Faubus" to the tipsy, whirling flute he plays on "Jitterbug Waltz," a tune he loved playing. The sound here is less crisp than The Great Concert, thick in the middle and ill-defined when it comes to Richmond's drums, leaving the group's interplay like an ear-magnet. "Take the 'A' Train" pays soulful, blossoming homage to Billy Strayhorn even as you can hear the band tightening their grip collectively, learning to fly as a unit. Unheard music of this caliber demands a listen, and here the rewards are bountiful. --Andrew Bartlett
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