2018 has given jazz fans a wealth of interesting historical performances, from a long lost John Coltrane studio session to stellar live sets from Milford Graves and David S. Ware. This is a sprawling 5-CD collection of the great bassist and composer Charles Mingus, selected radio broadcasts drawn from a week long residency at the Strata Concert Gallery in Detroit recorded during February of 1973. The Mingus band at this time was made up of John Stubblefield on tenor saxophone, Joe Gardner on trumpet, Don Pullen on piano and Roy Brooks on drums. Mingus had gone through an intense period of personal hardship and mental illness in the late 1960's and early 1970's, but was on the comeback trail, recording with Columbia and Atlantic before finally passing away far too young from ALS in 1979. He sounds tired and somewhat subdued in his spoken introductions for the band on these recordings, but belies that with the stamina that still existed in his performing ability, as his thick and resonant bass is the fulcrum around which the band revolves, remaining as massive a presence as he had been since the 1950's. Pullen is a joy to hear on these recordings, and a perfect selection for the group (his confederate George Adams would replace Stubblefield on the Changes One and Two Atlantic LP's.) His knowledge of and ability to tap into the entirety of of jazz history with an unusual technique made him something of a modern update of Jaki Byard's post in the classic 1964 Mingus band. Another surprise is that longtime confederate Dannie Richmond had temporarily split from Mingus, so the talented hard bop drummer Roy Brooks (who is also interviewed at length) keeps the rhythm percolating. The repertoire that the band plays over the course of the recordings draws predominantly from Mingus original material, with two versions of his groundbreaking composition "Pithecanthropus Erectus" which musically depicts the rise and fall of mankind. The two versions here clock in at twenty five and nearly twenty minutes apiece and allow the musicians to explore the arrangement, and allow for excellent solo space for Stubblefields's gruff tenor and Pullen's cascading piano. Two takes of the Gillespie nod "Dizzy Profile" show the group experimenting with waltz time and feature stellar and patiently constructed trumpet features. "C Jam Blues" takes the Ellington piece into the stratosphere, playing off of the famous riff and developing into a series of explosive improvisations and developments, particularly a brawny section for Stubblefield and Brooks to throw down with Mingus and Pullen framing the action, before Brooks takes over for a hell raising drum solo. Overall, this is an excellent collection, the music may be familiar in its melodies, especially for Mingus fans, but the musicians relentlessly improvise and explore creating creating new ground as they grow. For a brief time you are a fly on the wall at a small club gig from one of the music's finest ever practitioner's. It's hard to turn that down.
Jazz In Detroit / Strat Concert Gallery / 46 Selden - amazon.com
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