Recordings from a bop dream team in concert at Toronto's Massey Hall on 15 May 1953, with some later bass overdubs. Bird & Diz, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach - what more to say, really, about a lineup like that? The audience might have been diminished due to being scheduled against a boxing prize fight, but this a heavyweight championship in its own right. Six classic tunes give everyone a chance to land punches, from the opening swing of Perdido, a red hot Salt Peanuts where Gillespie's clearly having fun, to a lengthy Hot House where Mingus and Roach stretch out, and more. An essential landmark in 50s jazz.
pw: sgtg
Was just listening to the copy I inherited from my dad last week. Great record.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Mr. Parker performed with a plastic alto sax, as the story goes that his was in hock as it frequently was to support his habit. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteSeemingly they paid to get it recorded but were unhappy with the outcome so some of it is overdubbed (possibly Mingus's parts)
ReplyDeleteSome years ago, a friend (now dead) and I were listening to Jazz on 3 or Jazz records requests or whatever when a track from this came on. It was him who’d reignited my interest in Jazz about 20 years previously by playing me Sam Rivers and we’d been comparing notes and impressions about all sorts of musics ever since. Neither of us had heard this and our mouths just dropped open, the music was so fresh and fierce. Unbelievable that it comes from 1953 (even I wasn’t born until 54!) and still sounds so good. RIP Mike Walford
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