For Mingus’s centennial:
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1960 Mingus with a small group. Excellent remastered recording on Qobuz.
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With this being the year that Mingus would have turned 100, we have seen a number of albums dedicated to his music. I have found most of them to be too un-MIngus. Mingus music was aggressive and too many of the recent tributes lack that. So I turned to a considerably older tribute to Mingus. Steve Lacy is probably better known for his fine reworking of Monk’s compositions, but here he does well by Mingus, too.
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Speaking of Mingus, just found out about this late Mingus session, thoroughly enjoying it:
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More Mingus related music / tributes. The Mingus Big Band has been active on and off since the early 1990s. They have about a dozen recordings in their discography, with most of them available on both Tidal and Qobuz. The recording shown below is one of their best and, as @Stan_Jones prefers, is both edgy and aggressive. The personnel isn’t bad either.
https://i.imgur.com/DZVhjMm.png
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A change of subject. Marty Ehrlich, like the great Jaki Byard, is one of those absolutely amazing jazz musicians who just never seemed to get the recognition they so right deserve. Sure the critics love him, but who listens to the critics? Well in the case of Ehrlich the critics are 100% correct. He is truly worth one’s attention. Available on the Q/T
https://i.imgur.com/ghLiHUK.png
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TUM Records from Finland plays hard to get: no streaming, no digital downloads, and only spotty distribution in the US. But if you like creative music in the AACM vein, they are an essential source, in particular for much of Wadada Leo Smith’s work. But this time I’m extolling the work of 3 other magicians of free jazz who came together for a Cecil Taylor celebration that is outstandingly recorded – so present, so direct – and surprising melodious given its subject. I finally managed to get it from grooves.land, a Berlin online store that sells worldwide.
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Interesting and surprisingly grooving and melodic contemporary jazz. Very tasteful blending of electronic instruments and strings. A good example of outstanding 16 bit 44.1 kHz recording and mastering.
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Long awaited - released today
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The latest release from the fine Argentine trumpet player. Available on the Q/T. Along with this new release, which is very good, there are several more of his recordings available for streaming. A great example of how streaming can actually help an artist gain exposure, especially in markets outside of their home country. De Urquiza is part of a very vibrant Argentine jazz scene. Following the links for the personnel on this recording shows many other recordings well worth a listen.
https://i.imgur.com/yYal27U.png
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My search in Roon indicates two listings for Juan Cruz De Urquiza, one with an avatar and one without. The referenced album Ultima Chance is not listed in the discography for the Urquiza with an avatar, but is listed in the discography for the Urquiza without an avatar. Also, a search for the album Ultima Chance finds a number of listings, but not for the recommended album. Just an FYI for anyone trying to locate this album.
PS: Just an interesting observation on Roon’s quirky search function, if you enter Ultima Chance there’s no listing for the album. If you then add Juan Cruz it pulls up a listing of the tracks on the album. If you display all, one of the listings is the album. So odd.
I find the best way to search either Tidal or Qobuz is by using their native desktop app. Once I find what I’m looking for I just mark the recording as a favorite and then, hopefully, the recording will show up in Roon, once Tidal/Qobuz is synched with Roon.
All of this is because in spite of all the Roon updates with all the promises of how the search function is now fixed, Roon’s search is still god awful.
