Home » Jazz Articles » Film Review » Jazz Icons Series 2 Set: Wes, Mingus, Coltrane, Dexter, ...

1,158

Jazz Icons Series 2 Set: Wes, Mingus, Coltrane, Dexter, Duke, Brubeck and More.

By

Sign in to view read count
Jazz IconsVarious Artists
Jazz Icons Series 2 Box Set
Reelin' in the Years
2007



While the advent of the DVD has resulted in the unearthing of a virtual treasure trove of archival live video performances, many available for the first time in any format, the quality can often be hit-and-miss. Not so with the Jazz Icons series of DVDs, the first series hitting the streets in 2006. It's been written that this outstanding series of live performances by legendary jazz artists is to jazz what the renowned Criterion Collection has been to film in terms of quality and packaging, and that's no hyperbole. While there are occasional glimpses of the limitations of these DVD's original sources, what made the release of Series 1 such an event was the relatively pristine quality of the video and the rich, full-frequencied audio.



While the first series of nine DVDs, featuring Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Buddy Rich, Count Basie, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Quincy Jones and Thelonious Monk, was collected into a box set after the individual discs were released, there was nothing added to compel the avid fan to consider the entire collection. Series 2 changes that by including, in addition to outstanding discs featuring John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery and Charles Mingus, a bonus disc with forty minutes of previously unseen performances by Coltrane in 1962, Gordon in 1964, Brubeck in 1964 and Vaughan in 1967. It may not be enough to change some from cherry-picking among the discs that interest them, but for the completist or ardent fan it's certainly a strong carrot.



With running times ranging from 65 minutes to two hours, extensive booklets written by musicians like Pat Metheny, archivists including Ashley Kahn, or family members such as Darius Brubeck and Sue Mingus, who go into exhaustive detail about the shows presented, not to mention the inclusion of heretofore unseen footage, there's almost too much of a good thing to do justice by it within the scope of this review. While every disc has something to please fans of a particular artist, some discs are of undeniable historic importance, regardless of a consumer's tastes or personal preferences.



Jazz Icons / Wes MontgomeryWes Montgomery
Live in '65
Reelin' in the Years
2007



While there's no shortage of recorded material by Wes Montgomery—one jazz's most enduringly influential guitarists despite a relatively brief career cut tragically short by his death in 1968 at the age of forty-three- -this 78-minute, monaural recording captures Montgomery during three European performances in Holland, Belgium and England in 1965. It was a watershed period for Montgomery, coming out of a longstanding contract with Riverside and about to head into a period that some consider something of a commercial sell- out, despite his playing arguably reaching new heights.



Each performance features Montgomery with a different band, with only one of them featuring the musicians—pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Arthur Harper and drummer Jimmy Lovelace—he brought from the US and who accompanied him on most of his European dates that year. The other two bands are of worthy note, although the UK group with pianist Stan Tracey, drummer Jackie Dougan and a pre-Mahavishnu Orchestra Rick Laird on acoustic bass plays it a tad on the safe side, even for Montgomery's in-the-middle mainstream focus.



Montgomery's Dutch band and its performance contains, perhaps, the DVD's best footage for two reasons. First, while brothers Pim (piano) and Ruud (bass) Jacobs are no slouches, there's an opportunity to see a very young Han Bennink on drums, playing in a completely straight-ahead manner, before he'd established his reputation as one of the founding fathers of the "New Dutch Swing." Second, some rehearsal footage, with Montgomery walking the group through "The End of a Love Affair," lays waste to the myth that Montgomery, a self-taught musician, had no technical knowledge. Self-taught needn't imply uneducated, and here Montgomery makes it clear that his understanding of harmony and changes was not compromised just because he'd not undergone a formal education.



Montgomery's performances are spellbinding throughout. While John Abercrombie has, in the past decade, picked up the mantle of Montgomery as a guitarist playing solely with his thumb, watching Montgomery's single opposable digit execute lines at a near-impossible speed is a revelation. And while the Dutch and Belgian shows are looser and more relaxed than the UK show, all three affirm Montgomery's remarkable imagination and invention.



Jazz Icons / Charles MingusCharles Mingus
Live in '64
Reelin' in the Years
2007



The longest of the DVDs at two hours, this series of three performances by Charles Mingus in Belgium, Norway and Sweden in 1964 captures the ever-mercurial bassist with a relatively consistent line-up, and proves the value of bringing a band on tour as opposed to using pick-up bands. Of course the music that Mingus wrote and/or arranged was challenging enough for his regular band mates; attempting to use different musicians throughout a tour would have been nearly impossible.



Mingus's band at this point—woodwind multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy (who was an on-again/off-again member of Mingus' groups and would pass away all too young like Montgomery, at the age of thirty-six, just two months after these recordings), tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, pianist Jaki Byard, drummer Dannie Richmond and trumpeter Johnny Coles (who took ill during the group's Paris show, was unable to complete the tour and, consequently, is not seen at the Belgium performance here)—was among the best, if not the best of his career, and one of the first things noticeable is how close together this group performed onstage. While many groups prefer to stay close to ensure proper eye contact, even on the largest of stages Mingus' group seemed to be nearly sitting on top of each other. It's a lesson in group dynamics and interaction that can't be heard; it needs to be seen.



Despite Mingus' reputation for being a moody band leader, what's especially apparent on all three performances here is how much fun everyone appears to be having, the bassist included. When Byard gets a solo spot during the Norway show and dives into some serious stride playing, complete with his own vocalizing that seems like his inner self egging his outer self on, Mingus can be seen, eyes glued on Byard, clearly loving every minute. It's also a revelation to watch Jordan and Dolphy together: the former, a player not incapable of taking things outside, staying closer to the center on a fairly reverent version of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn classic "Take the 'A' Train"; the latter, a more experimentally minded player who takes every opportunity to explore where even the most conventional of contexts could lead.



More than just a series of fine performances of largely Mingus-penned music, these shows also reveal Mingus and the group are forced to reallocate Coles' parts (with Byard the willing but challenged recipient of the task) for the Belgium show) and present candid rehearsal footage for the Sweden performance. While Wes Montgomery was no less in control of the situation in the performance footage on his DVD, and while there's no mistaking the respect Mingus had for his band mates, with Mingus there's never a question as to who's in the driver's seat, and at all times. That said, even with a small group Mingus creates challenging and orchestrally minded contexts, and while there's plenty of outstanding soloing throughout, the ensemble sound manages to be both tightly played yet extemporaneously loose in feel at the same time—a hallmark of the bassist's unique approach.



Another defining characteristic of these performances—and Mingus' groups from his earliest Jazz Workshop days to his death in 1979—is Richmond, who had a busy schedule outside of Mingus' groups but whose ability to be more than a timekeeper while never neglecting that role made him absolutely essential to Mingus' loose/tight aesthetic. It's easy, four decades after his passing, to forget how innovative Mingus was in establishing the bass as an equal melodic partner on the bandstand. While this DVD can't possibly capture the entire breadth of Mingus' work (no single DVD could), it's as strong a representation of his importance as composer, arranger, bassist, bandleader and overall musical conceptualist as one will likely ever find.



Jazz Icons / John ColtraneJohn Coltrane
Live in '60, '61 & '65
Reelin' in the Years
2007



Dolphy is also represented on a 95-minute DVD that captures three performances of saxophone icon John Coltrane at three separate points in his career. In the same way that the Mingus set provides a comprehensive record, these three performances from Germany in 1960 and 1961, and Belgium in 1965 demonstrate just how quickly Coltrane assumed a leadership role.



The 1960 performance came about as the result of an escape clause in Miles Davis' European contracts, which allowed him to back out of television tapings at will. Touring with his group of the time, featuring pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb and Coltrane—who had previously left the trumpeter but rejoined the group briefly—Miles was part of impresario Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tour with the Stan Getz Quartet and Oscar Peterson Trio. So, when Miles pulled out, Coltrane stepped in for a set that, at least for its first half, consisted of standards that were part of Miles' concert repertoire at the time.



While "On Green Dolphin Street," "Walkin'" and "The Theme" will be familiar tunes to fans of pre- Seven Steps to Heaven Miles, Coltrane's performance is nothing short of remarkable. Endless invention abounds, even in the more straight-ahead (but no less impressive) context of his band mates. While the Coltrane of 1960 was a considerably more inside Coltrane than the adventurous player of even a year later, he seems ready at this time to expand on his new freedom were it not for the restrictions of a television recording session.



As was common at the time, the Coltrane session finishes with two pieces that include his JATP tour mates and reveal, once again, just how progressive Coltrane already was. Getz joins Coltrane, Kelly, Chambers and Cobb for a ballad medley and, while Getz's reputation was certainly well-established by that time, hearing him play next to Coltrane also reveals how relatively conservative he was. Possessing a warm, almost silken tone when compared to Coltrane's sharper and drier sound, he may have garnered success due to his accessibility, but when the two play in tandem, his shortcomings, especially harmonically, will become obvious to many viewers.



The contrast is even more apparent when Kelly relinquishes the piano seat to Peterson, who joins the others for an up-tempo take of Thelonious Monk's "Hackensack." While Peterson's virtuosity and assertive stance fit in perfectly, once again Getz is left in the dust—even more so when Coltrane lets loose a blistering solo with a bluesy edge that Getz on this occasion simply can't match. Getz is no slouch, but he sounds comparatively predictable and, again, when the two tenors play in tandem, is overshadowed by Coltrane's sheer power.



A year later Coltrane had accelerated into the fast lane, and this 1961 German performance shows just how far he'd come in only twelve months. With pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones in place for what would become Coltrane's classic quartet, he's also joined by bassist Reggie Workman and Dolphy who, in the context of Coltrane's extended improvisations, is given the opportunity to go even further out than he does on the Mingus set, despite this being recorded three years earlier. Mixing one ballad with a blistering take of "My Favorite Things" and fiery "Impressions," Coltrane begins to place increasing emphasis on soprano sax. It's not a pretty sound—emulating, as it does, the thin sound of Indian double reed instruments—but it is a compelling one; a sound that had rarely been heard at that point. While it's impossible to deny the talent of Coltrane's rhythm section from a year earlier, Tyner and Jones were already clearly the partners he'd been looking for, both playing with an intensity that matched Coltrane's own burning experiments.



If "My Favorite Things" of 1961 is a shot across the bow, Coltrane's version with Tyner, Jones and Garrison in the 1965 Belgium clip demonstrates even greater acceleration towards the free play to which he'd soon devote himself, with his classic quartet not long after. Still, at this point Coltrane hadn't completely deserted concepts of structure and clearer melodism, especially on a beautiful version of his ballad, "Naima." Still, it's the opening duet with Jones, "Vigil," that provides insight into where Coltrane was soon to head, making this DVD a 95-minute time capsule of the evolution of one of the 20th Century's most significant jazz artists.



Jazz Icons / Dexter GordonDexter Gordon
Live in '63 and '64
Reelin' in the Years
2007



While tenor bebop legend Dexter Gordon was a Copenhagen, Denmark resident at the time of both these European dates from 1963 (Switzerland) and 1964 (Holland and Belgium), he was still working with American musicians—at least, some of the time. The 1963 performance from this seventy-minute compilation finds Long Tall Dexter playing with pianist Kenny Drew and drummer Art Taylor although both, like Gordon, had moved to Europe, where the climate for jazz was far warmer. Bassist Gilbert "Bibi" Rovere rounds out the quartet for a set that demonstrates Gordon's charismatic personality—with and without a horn in his hand, his introductions to the songs almost as entertaining as the songs themselves.



With a robust tone and an ability to find new things to say with every chorus, Gordon may not have been enjoying the kind of rapid ascendancy of Coltrane in America at the time, but his career—which would prove to be a far longer one—was remarkably consistent, up until his death in 1990. Here, and in his 1964 performances with a group of native Europeans—pianist George Grunz, bassist Guy Pedersen and drummer Daniel Humair—Gordon works his way through a series of standards and occasional original tunes, demonstrating why he was considered by many the tenor equivalent of Charlie Parker's alto.



Jazz Icons / Dave BrubeckDave Brubeck
Live in '64 and '66
Reelin' in the Years
2007



By the time the mid-1960s came around, pianist Dave Brubeck had achieved the kind of critical and commercial acclaim that left behind artists who many would consider more historically significant. Still, it's hard to deny Brubeck's achievements and his raising the profile of jazz at a time when rock and roll was threatening to undermine its importance. Brubeck enjoyed best-selling albums, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine and, along with altoist and longtime musical partner Paul Desmond, managed to introduce (or, at least, popularize) certain elements, including irregular meters and applying a jazz aesthetic to classical repertoire.



These two European performances—Belgium in 1964 and Germany in 1966—are by no means the only footage of Brubeck's classic quartet with Desmond, bassist Eugene Wright and drummer Joe Morello, but they are beautifully recorded and, with the restoration work of the entire Jazz Icons series, some of the best footage of this group available. Compared to the intensity of Coltrane, the loose feel and tight arrangements of Mingus and visceral swing of Gordon, it's perhaps a little too easy to look at these elegant performances as lightweight. But that would be an injustice, as this quartet proved it was possible to make music that was commercially acceptable yet musically substantial.



Desmond, in particular, managed to accomplish the near-impossible with a lyrical bent and warm, appealing tone that defined cool. Brubeck, as always, is the more assertive player, a more muscular yang to Desmond's more graceful yin. Wright and Morello were a remarkable rhythm team, navigating swingers like "Take the 'A' Train" with ease, ballads including Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way" with sensitivity and what, at the time, seemed daring on two versions of what has become one of the most ubiquitous tunes in jazz, Desmond's "Take Five."



The Sarah Vaughan DVD features sixty-five minutes of the classic singer from 1958 and 1964, while a 1958, eighty-minute Duke Ellington performance captures the bandleader with an outstanding orchestra featuring saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney and trumpeter Clark Terry, amongst others. Like the rest of the set, the recording quality is superb, making the entire series an essential document of some of jazz's finest musicians, caught in some of their finer moments.




Wes Montgomery—Live in '65



Tracks: Holland 1965: I Love Blues; Nica's Dream; Love Affair Rehearsal; The End of a Love Affair. Belgium 1965: Impressions; Twisted Blues; Here's That Rainy Day; Jingles; Boy Next Door. England 1965: Four on Six; Full House; Here's That Rainy Day; Twisted Blues; West Coast Blues.



Personnel: Wes Montgomery: guitar; Pim Jacobs: piano (Holland); Ruud Jacobs: bass (Holland); Han Bennink: drums (Holland); Harold Mabern: piano (Belgium); Arthur Harper: bass (Belgium); Jimmy Lovelace: drums (Belgium); Stan Tracey: piano (England); Rick Laird: bass (England); Jackie Dougan: drums (England).



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 78 minutes. Liner notes by Pat Metheny. Forward by Montgomery's family. Afterward by Carlos Santana. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



Charles Mingus—Live in '64



Tracks: Belgium 1964: So Long Eric; Peggy's Blue Skylight; Meditations on Integration. Norway 1964: So Long Eric; Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk; Parkeriana; Take the "A" Train. Sweden 1964: So Long Eric (rehearsal); So Long Eric; Meditations on Integration (rehearsal); Meditations on Integration.



Personnel: Charles Mingus: bass; Eric Dolphy: alto sax, flute, bass clarinet; Clifford Jordan: tenor sax; Johnny Coles: trumpet (Norway and Sweden); Jaki Byard: piano; Dannie Richmond: drums.



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 120 minutes. Liner notes by Rob Bowman. Forward by Andrew Homzy. Afterward by Sue Mingus. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



John Coltrane —Live in '60, '61 & '65



Tracks: Germany 1960: On Green Dolphin Street; Walkin'; The Theme; Autumn Leaves/What's New/Moonlight in Vermont; Hackensack. Germany 1961: My Favorite Things; Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye; Impressions. Belgium 1965: Vigil; Naima; My Favorite Things.



Personnel: John Coltrane: tenor sax, soprano sax (Germany, 1961 and Belgium only); Wynton Kelly: piano (Germany, 1960#1-4); Paul Chambers: bass (Germany, 1960); Jimmy Cobb: drums (Germany, 1960); Stan Getz: tenor sax (Germany, 1960 #4-5); Oscar Peterson: piano (Germany, 1960#5); Eric Dolphy: alto sax and flute (Germany, 1961); McCoy Tyner: piano (Germany, 1961 and Belgium); Reggie Workman: bass (Germany, 1961); Elvin Jones: drums (Germany, 1961 and Belgium); Jimmy Garrison: bass (Belgium).



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 95 minutes. Liner notes by Ashley Kahn. Forward by Michael Cuscuna. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



Dexter Gordon —Live in '63 & '64



Tracks: Holland 1964: A Night in Tunisia; What's New; Blues Walk. Switzerland 1963: Second Balcony Jump; You've Changed. Belgium 1964: Lady Bird; Body and Soul; Credits.



Personnel: Dexter Gordon: tenor sax; George Grunz: piano (Holland and Belgium); Guy Pedersen: bass (Holland and Belgium); Daniel Humair: drums (Holland and Belgium); Kenny Drew: piano (Switzerland); Gilbert "Bibi" Rovere: bass (Switzerland); Art Taylor: drums (Switzerland).



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 70 minutes. Liner notes by Maxine Gordon. Forward by Michael Cuscuna. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



Dave Brubeck —Live in '64 & '66



Tracks: Belgium 1964: St. Louis Blues; Koto Song; Three to Get Ready; In Your Own Sweet Way; Take Five. Germany 1966: Take the "A" Train; Forty Days; I'm in a Dancing Mood; Koto Song; Take Five; Credits.



Personnel: Dave Brubeck: piano; Paul Desmond: alto sax; Eugene Wright: bass; Joe Morello: drums.



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 67 minutes. Liner notes by Darius Brubeck. Forward by Doug Ramsey. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



Sarah Vaughan—Live in '58 & '64



Tracks: Sweden 1958: Sometimes I'm Happy; Lover Man; September in the Rain; Mean to Me; Tenderly; If This Isn't Love. Holland 1958: Over the Rainbow; They All Laughed; Lover Man; Cherokee; Sometimes I'm Happy. Sweden 1964: I Feel Pretty; The More I See You; Baubles, Bangles and Beads; I Got Rhythm; Misty; Honeysuckle Rose; Maria; Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home.



Personnel: Sarah Vaughan: vocals; Richard Davis: bass (1958); Ronnell Bright: piano (1958); Art Morgan: drums (1958); Buster Williams: bass (1964); Kirk Stuart: piano (1964); George Hughes: drums (1964).



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 65 minutes. Liner notes by Patricia Willard. Forward by Sarah's daughter, Paris. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.



Duke Ellington—Live in '58



Tracks: Black and Tan Fantasy/Creole Love Call/The Mooch; Harlem Air Shaft; Sophisticated Lady; My Funny Valentine; Kinda Dukish/Rockin; in Rhythm; Mr. Gentle and Mr. Cool; Jack the Bear; You Better Know It; All of Me; Things Ain't What They Used to Be; Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum; Ellington Medley (10 songs); Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue.



Personnel: Johnny Hodges: alto sax; Russell Procope: alto sax, clarinet; Paul Gonsalves: tenor sax; Jimmy Hamilton: tenor sax, clarinet; Harry Carney: baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet; William "Cat" Anderson: trumpet; Harold "Shorty" Baker: trumpet; Ray Nance: trumpet, violin, vocal; Clark Terry: trumpet; Quentin "Butter" Jackson: trombone; John Sanders: valve trombone; Britt Woodman: trombone; Duke Ellington: piano; Jimmy Woode: bass; Sam Woodyard: drums; Ozzie Bailey: vocal.



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 80 minutes. Liner notes by Patricia Willard. Forward by Duke's grandson, Edward K. Ellington II. Rare photographs and memorabilia collage.

Bonus Disc—Series 2



Tracks: John Coltrane, Sweden, 1962: I Want to Talk About You; Dexter Gordon, Norway, 1964: I Want More; Dave Brubeck, Finland, 1964: Unisphere; Sarah Vaughan, Sweden, 1964: The Shadow of Your Smile; What Now My Love; I Had a Ball.



Personnel: John Coltrane, Sweden, 1962: John Coltrane: tenor sax; McCoy Tyner: piano; Jimmy Garrison: bass; Elvin Jones: drums. Dexter Gordon, Norway, 1964: Dexter Gordon: tenor sax; Tete Montoliu: piano; Niels- Henning Orsted Pedersen: bass; Alex Riel: drums. Dave Brubeck, Finland, 1964: Dave Brubeck: piano; Paul Desmond: alto sax; Eugene Wright: bass; Joe Morello: drums. Sarah Vaughan, Sweden, 1964: Sarah Vaughan: vocal; Boob James: piano; Herb Mickman: bass; Omar Clay: drums.



DVD Feature: B&W. Running time: 38 minutes. Liner notes by Ashley Kahn.

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.