Jazz Articles about Don Pullen

About Don Pullen

Radio & Podcasts

Don Pullen: Forgotten genius of the piano

by Larry Slater
February 27, 2026

The pianist Don Pullen had a percussive, inside-outside piano technique that sounds like no other pianist now or then. This combination of freedom and rhythm gave him his own unique musical personality.After a stint with Charles Mingus in the mid '70s, he spent a decade co-leading The George Adams / Don Pullen Quartet, one of the most exciting small groups of the '80s. The bassist in that quartet, Cameron Brown, wrote, “Don was the pianist of my lifetime."

Album Review

Charles Mingus: Mingus At Carnegie Hall (Deluxe Edition)

Read "Mingus At Carnegie Hall (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
June 29, 2021

This 2-CD set takes the 1974 album Mingus At Carnegie Hall (Atlantic) and adds seventy minutes of previously unissued material recorded at the same concert. It is as worthwhile an addition to Charles Mingus' recorded legacy as 2020's previously unissued 2-CD set Charles Mingus @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 (Sunnyside). Why it has taken so long for either set to be released is anybody's guess. But at least we have them now. Mingus led many great bands ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: @ Bremen 1964 & 1975

Read "@ Bremen 1964 & 1975" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
March 1, 2021

"In questo paese--sentenziò Charles Mingus--percepisco ancora intatto il puzzo delle camere a gas e dei campi di concentramento. Ma non fatevi troppi problemi: gli Stati Uniti d'America sono anch'essi un grande campo di concentramento." Il paese era la Germania Ovest, la città era Brema, l'anno il 1964. La dichiarazione è riportata da Joachim Ernst Berendt in un articolo del 1979 e ripresa come incipit dell'indimenticabile Charlie Mingus di Mario Luzzi (Lato Side, 1983) Dichiarazione ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: @ Bremen 1964 & 1975

Read "@ Bremen 1964 & 1975" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
December 8, 2020

It is 1964 and the big bass emperor rules the old continent as he commanded every stage he set foot on. So @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 just does not sound right. Charles Mingus Swings Bad Ass and Liberates Your Body and Your Mind @ Bremen sounds way more like it. For—as much as anything in his grand, sweeping arc serves to highlight how mercurial and spot-on his real time genius was—this previously unreleased four-disc joy bomb will certainly be ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: @ Bremen 1964 & 1975

Read "@ Bremen 1964 & 1975" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
November 13, 2020

Four hours of previously unissued, premier-league music by Charles Mingus is something to shout about, and @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 is about as good as the bassist and composer's posthumously released live albums get. Four CDs chronicle two extended, intense performances recorded in Germany by Radio Bremen. Both gigs featured all-star bands and both are typically and gloriously uplifting Mingus melanges of through-composition and in-the-moment improvisation touching on blues and roots, bop, hard bop, New Orleans marching band, swing, ...

Radio & Podcasts

Whither Freedom? Avant-Garde Jazz in the '80s (1978 - 1990)

by Russell Perry
May 26, 2020

In the 1980s, the avant-garde, although still home to many fine free jazz players, increasingly adopted an ecumenical approach to historical styles. Freedom came to include freedom to be “in the tradition." The broadly-influenced music of alto saxophonists Arthur Blythe and Henry Threadgill, clarinetist John Carter and pianist Don Pullen illustrate this trend--in this hour of Jazz at 100. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Arthur Blythe Septet. “Down San Diego Way" from Lenox Avenue Breakdown (Columbia) 3:14 Host speaks ...

Album Review

Fat Kid Big Band: New Beginnings

Read "New Beginnings" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 9, 2018

Note to Montreal's Fat Kid Big Band: If you really want to make a favorable first impression on your audience, move the opening track on New Beginnings, “Bustin' My Ass," and replace it with any of the album's five instrumental numbers. Nothing personal, and no disrespect meant to singer Othniel PF, but why would a big band introduce itself with a rather anemic vocal set to a quasi-rock beat when there are so many more enticing choices available?