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Jazz Articles about Charles McPherson
Charles McPherson Quintet at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
Charles McPherson Quintet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA June 13, 2023 To be fortunate enough to see an artist of the caliber of alto saxophonist/master composer Charles McPherson perform live is a blessing, to be sure. Jazz fans of any age can be recipients of this privilege, though fans who have accumulated several decades of age can, perhaps, appreciate the opportunity the most. To be a McPherson fan over the past 50 years is to ...
Continue ReadingCharles Mingus: The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's
by Angelo Leonardi
Il 22 aprile scorso nel centenario della nascita di Charles Mingus la Resonance Records ha pubblicato un altro magistrale inedito storico. Ci riferiamo a The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's, registrato nell'agosto 1972 dalla CBS britannica nel celebre locale londinese. Non è tanto un disco perduto ma un documento accantonato per decenni, che vede protagonista l'inedito sestetto del bassista in una fase di transizione. Abbiamo quasi due ore e mezza di musica di qualità sonora eccellente e ...
Continue ReadingCharles Mingus: The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's
by Ken Dryden
Charles Mingus was larger than life as a composer, performer and bandleader. A writer of frequently difficult music, Mingus was demanding of himself and his musicians, yet he never wanted his works to sound overly polished. These recordings made over two consecutive nights at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London in 1971 were recorded to be released on Columbia Records. Unfortunately, the gross incompetence of the label's president, Clive Davis, who dropped the entire jazz roster in 1973, except for ...
Continue ReadingJohn Beasley, Magnus Lindgren, SWR Big Band: Bird Lives
by Jim Worsley
Round about 2017 there was a meeting of the minds. Composers and musicians John Beasley and Magnus Lindgren evolved as kindred spirits, and chose to work together on a project engulfing their shared appreciation of Charlie Parker. This tribute to the man who came to be known simply as Bird, had trouble taking flight. Obstacles, none bigger than Covid, came along and stood in the way. Dedicated to its completion, the pair, along with the SWR Big Band, has now ...
Continue ReadingCharles Mingus: The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott's
by Mike Jurkovic
After the emotional and economic bankruptcies of the late 1960s that nearly took him out of the picture entirely, 1972 broke well for Charles Mingus. He had re-signed with Columbia and delivered the revered Let My Children Hear Music. (He would, a year later, be part of the great Clive Davis jazz purge of 1973 which included Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and, some argue Ornette Coleman.) Grants and commissions were coming in and his music, in all its bold, gnarly, ...
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