Mingus Big Band- Live At Jazz Standard – JSM 370701, 71:53 ***½:
(Randy Brecker, trumpet; Kenny Rampton, trumpet; Earl Gardner, trumpet; Wayne Escoffery, tenor Saxophone; Abraham Burton, tenor Saxophone; Vincent Herring, alto saxophone; Douglas Yates, flute, alto and soprano saxophones; Lauren Sevian, baritone saxophone; Ku-umba Frank Lacy, trombone and vocals; Conrad Herwig, trombone; Earl Mcintyre, bass trombone and tuba; David Kikoski, piano; Boris Kozlov, bass; Jeff “Tain” Watts, drums)
On Live At Jazz Standard, we are given an excellent chance to hear Sue Mingus’ vision for how to best preserve the legacy of Charles Mingus in practice. Starting with the formation of the original Mingus Dynasty shortly after his death in 1979, Sue Mingus has worked tirelessly to assure that the full range of her husband’s compositions will continue to be heard live. Mingus Big Band arose from that original ensemble.
Live at Jazz Standard is taken from a 2008 NPR New Year’s Eve broadcast and locates the listener in the environment of a particular performance better than most live recordings are able. Rather than beginning with music, what we hear first is the applause of an excited crowd already anticipating a memorable event. Before the applause dies down, the band is introduced with the bass— a confident Boris Kozlov on Mingus’ own lion’s head bass.
As always, the line-up of this version of the Mingus Big Band reads like a primer of contemporary players to look out for in New York including Jeff “Tain” Watts, Conrad Herwig, Vincent Herring, though Randy Brecker alone holds down the role of musicians who played with Mingus while he was still alive. While Boris Kozlov is given impossible shoes to fill, he rises well enough to the occasion for the bass parts not to fall flat, unlike some of his predecessors. Lauren Sevian holds down the low end of the arrangements with an exuberance that earns her a believable place in the strong Mingus lineage of tenor players like Booker Ervin. Wait for her to be let loose on “Moanin” – it is well worth it. Still, the only member of the band to do more than uphold the tradition is Jeff “Tain” Watts, who brings his personality to the music in a way that is new and welcome.
In contrast to other Mingus Big Band recordings, many of which have been themed or aimed to draw out overlooked elements of his compositions, here the group aims to present Mingus at his most crowd-pleasing. The repertoire is mostly up tempo, high energy material and includes better known works like “Moanin’”, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, and “Hora Decubitus”—the latter two songs featuring Ku-umba Frank Lacy on vocals penned by Joni Mitchell and Elvis Costello respectively.
TrackList: Gunslinging Bird, New Now Know How, Self-Portrait In Three Colors, Bird Calls, E’s Flat Ah’ Flat Too (AKA “Hora Decubitus”), Cryin’ Blues, Open Letter To Duke, Moanin’, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Song With Orange
— Robin Margolis
