Charles Mingus Sextet & Eric Dolphy - Cornell 1964 (2007)

In 2005, Blue Note raised the eyebrows (and expectations) of the jazz world by issuing the previously unreleased Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert from November of 1957 that literally replaces the few other recordings of the group both sonically and musically. In 2007, courtesy of Charles Mingus' widow Sue, with the help of Michael Cuscuna and Blue Note, gives us another heretofore unknown bit of jazz history with the Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy's Cornell University Concert from March 18, 1964. The reason this gig is significant is because apparently, not only didn't anybody know it was recorded, according to Gary Giddins, who wrote the (typically) excellent liners here, no one but the people who put on the show and the students who attended even knew it had taken place! The other reason for its historic importance is that it took place 17 days before the famed Town Hall concert and predated other European shows by the band by at least a month. This is significant because trumpeter Johnny Coles took ill shortly after, and Dolphy passed away a few months later. Until now, the Town Hall gig was the standard for this band, but it is safe to say with this current revelation that it will be replaced in the annals of the canon. This band -- Mingus, Dolphy, Coles, Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond, and Clifford Jordan -- played perhaps definitive renditions of some Mingus tunes worked out previously at the Five Spot where he assembled the group, and were presumed to have first been performed, and recorded, at Town Hall. Much of the material was also performed on the European tour that followed and climaxed with an appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Tracks:

CD1:

1-01 Opening 0:17
1-02 ATFW You 4:26
1-03 Sophisticated Lady 4:23
1-04 Fables Of Faubus 29:42
1-05 Orange Was The Colour Of Her Dress, Then Silk Blue 15:05
1-06 Take The "A" Train 17:26

CD2:

2-01 Meditations 31:23
2-02 So Long Eric 15:33
2-03 When Irsih Eyes Are Smiling 6:07
2-04 Jitterbug Waltz 9:59

Personnel:

Alto Saxophone, Flute, Bass Clarinet – Eric Dolphy
Bass – Charles Mingus
Drums – Dannie Richmond
Piano – Jaki Byard
Tenor Saxophone – Clifford Jordan
Trumpet – Johnny Coles