Add New Comment
Comments (2)
-
Anthony Cooper wrote on January 14, 2008 report
I have this CD (listening to it now), and I agree with the review. What's useful is that it points me in the direction of the "Great Concert" CD. The Cornell show is quite good, "Fables" and "Jitterbug Waltz" are my two favorites. The main knock on the sound is Johnny Coles' trumpet wasn't picked up by the microphones very well. He sounds much more distant than the saxes.
-
Samuel Chell wrote on January 14, 2008 reportI sensed that distance you're talking about more on the 2nd disc than
the first, especially on "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," where I would
have liked the trumpet sound to be more forward. But
Coles was a player given to understatement, more so than the
extroverted players who followed him (Jimmy Owens, Hobart Dotson, John
Faddis) in Mingus groups. It's somewhat surprising Mingus would
go to him, because he's not going to get fired up even at Mingus'
"encouragement." I met and talked to him in the '70s when he was with
Ellington. Clearly an individualist not about to go out of
his way to "prove himself" to anyone. Reviewing this, I kept doing A-B
comparisons between the two dates--kind of tough when they're 30-
minute tracks. But "Goodbye Eric" really captures the
difference. The high-energy, hard-driving version on the "Great
Concert" makes the version on "At Cornell" seem tame by comparison.
But thanks for the tip on "Jitterbug Waltz," which I confess I
didn't listen to very closely. (I'm going to do that right now!)<P>
[Later}: Good call on Dolphy's flute on "Jitterbug Waltz," a helluva
performance and, regrettably, one of his last. Still, I find nothing
on the Cornell date to compare with Jordan's solo on "Fables of
Faubus" or the Jordan-Dolphy exchanges on "So Long, Eric" from the
Paris concert a month after the Cornell one. The Parisian crowd was
an especially hip, appreciative and receptive audience (with Mingus'
booking agent in attendance), and the 5-man "sextet" puts out 150%.
Much as I love Johnny Coles, his presence on the Cornell session
lengthens the performances, takes some playing time away from the
other principals, and diffuses the intensity.
