In summer 1977 the Charles Mingus Quintet rolled into South America on tour. It was the second time he’d been there and these shows would be among his last. As such Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts would be essential listening for anyone interested in his music. But thankfully it’s more than just that.
Category: Jazz
The Circling Sun :: Orbits
New Zealand’s cosmic jazz ensemble The Circling Sun comes forth with Orbits, the sequel to 2023’s Spirits and, like it, deftly serves up Yusef Lateef vibes on a platter. The group has all the irreverence and joy that makes spiritual jazz so compelling versus its more competitive, virtuosity-obsessed co-genres—especially when delivered by a group this numerous (an undectet!), you can almost hear the musicians having fun.
Mal Waldron :: Sweet Love, Bitter
Clouded by the obscurity of the film itself, Sweet Love, Bitter is a poignant example of the brilliance of jazz pianist/composer Mal Waldron. Adapted from 1961 novel Night Song (loosely inspired by the life and final years of the legendary Charlie Parker), Waldron’s soulful soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to the gritty, somber themes and even lucid dream montages. After decades of languishing in obscurity, Sweet Love, Bitter proves to be a provocative, multi-faceted display of jazz culture.
Bennie Maupin :: The Jewel In The Lotus
Out of print on vinyl since 1977, Bennie Maupin’s solo debut, The Jewel in the Lotus, makes its welcome return to the format this month via ECM’s Luminessence reissue series. A counterpoint to the playful funk of Hancock’s Headhunters, The Jewel in the Lotus swings the pendulum well beyond Mwansishi’s heady explorations into more earthy, deeply spiritual turf.
A true headphone journey and an aural balm for a world that’s spinning a bit too fast.
Billy Strayhorn :: The Peaceful Side (1963)
Dim the lights. Chill the glasses. Loosen your tie; kick off your heels. For the latest installment of our “Midnite Jazz” column, we look at Billy Strayhorn’s The Peaceful Side (1963), a ghostly offering of sparse jazz standards that showcase Strayhorn not as Duke Ellington’s right-hand man, but as a formidable solo artist in his own right.
Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Composers Wadada Leo Smith and Vijay Iyer are inveterate collaborators. Compile their past work together and you’re staring down a list that includes Bill Frisell, Jack DeJohnette, Pauline Oliveros, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, and more. But something singular and deeply special happens when they work one on one, as they do on the recently released Defiant Life. “We just create,” Smith says. “You could call it ‘composition’ or ‘spontaneous composition’ or ‘spontaneous improvisation’ or some kind of stuff like that. But the truth is, all the serious documents about humans on this planet refer to creation.”
East of Eden: The Legendary Strata-East Label Provides a Haven for Jazz Departures
What began as a DIY operation by two jazz visionaries to release their music became a home for bold young talent, avant-garde masters, experimental eccentrics and middle-aged mavericks. After years of stratospheric Discogs prices and zero streaming presence, the Strata-East label has returned, with an extensive physical and digital reissue campaign. Aquarium Drunkard talked to co-founder Charles Tolliver and current CEO Ched Tolliver about the label’s difficult beginnings, unlikely rise, continuing relevance and majestic catalog.
Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra :: Après La Marée Noire – Vers Une Musique Bretonne Nouvelle / Jo Maka
Parisian-based Souffle Continu Records continue their gracious excavation of the catalog of the Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, the “people’s jazz workshop” created by French jazz pianist François Tusques. Following last year’s reissues of 1978’s L’Inter Communal and 1983’s Le Musichien, come releases of two more equally spirited documents from the same period – 1979’s Après La Marée Noire – Vers Une Musique Bretonne Nouvelle (After the Oil Spill – Towards a New Breton) and 1982’s Jo Maka.
Teo’s Bag: Constructing Bitches Brew
55 years on, Miles Davis’ 1970 opus, Bitches Brew remains as mind-bending as ever, but its most enduring influence may lie in its innovative construction. A deeper look at Teo Macero’s methods and madness, paired with a 2-hour collection of unused session reels expands its universe.
In Walked Herbie :: On The Outward Spiral of Herbie Nichols
In July, 1946, a 28-year-old Herbie Nichols visited the apartment of the 30-year-old Thelonious Monk. Nichols was there on 63rd Street to interview Monk for the Black-owned entertainment periodical Rhythm: Music and Theatrical Magazine, a visit which culminated in Monk performing his “Ruby, My Dear” on his Klein piano, which Nichols wrote was, “one of the greatest pleasures I’ve had listening to jazz.”
Beverly Kenney :: Born To Be Blue (1959)
Once championed to eclipse the likes of June Christy and Chris Connor, Beverly Kenney was found dead a few months after the release of Born To Be Blue (1959), wearing only a pink nightgown and surrounded by empty bottles and scattered pills. With this in mind, the album takes on a haunted quality, and Kenney becomes an enigmatic figure whose legacy exists in the twilight of myth and verity. If there were a Mount Rushmore of “Midnite Jazz” artists, Kenney would be on it, her short life as bittersweet as the songs she sang.
Phi-Psonics :: New Pyramid
Phi-Psonics is a spiritual jazz collective headed by Los Angeles-based composer and acoustic bassist Seth Ford-Young, whose prolific session work can be heard on releases such as the recent stunner by Takuro Okada. The uninhibited, meditative soundscapes of previous studio offerings The Cradle and Octava quickly made waves after catching the attention of Manchester jazz label Gondwana, flashing nods to A Love Supreme and a lush framework playing off of Ford-Young’s Mingus-inspired upright bass, lifting woodwinds and the Wurlitzer piano of Mitchell Yoshida.
John Coltrane :: A Love Supreme (60th Anniversary Edition)
In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked John Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, to which he replied, ‘a saint.'” Whether you’re an audiophile, record collector, or Coltrane-fanatic (or all of the above), the sixtieth-anniversary edition of A Love Supreme is a welcomed addition to any vinyl library. One small recording session for jazz musicians, one giant leap for all music.
Eric Dolphy :: Last Date (Documentary, 1991)
The documentary’s title Last Date is lifted from an album of posthumous live recordings from a Netherlands radio session in the summer of 1964 (the Dutch trio from the session feature prominently in the film). Just a few weeks later, Eric Dolphy tragically passed after slipping into a diabetic coma during a performance in Berlin.
Pangaea Deluxe: Live Miles in Japan, 1975 (Mixtape)
Drifting from spiraling psychedelia into frightening soundscapes and ecstatic funk, the Miles Davis septet built a universe unto itself across its 1975 tour of Japan. This tour-spanning mix gathers some of the choicest cuts and most experimental moments from the unissued tapes.