Houston Person

Naturally (HighNote, www. Jazzdepot.com)

The album title is fitting, as tenor saxophonist plays a program of jazz classics in his commanding yet relaxed style. Joined by veterans Cedar Walton on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and Lewis Nash on drums, Person virtually turns Milt Jackson's "Bag's Groove" into "Houston's Groove." His warm ballad style is well-captured on "That's All," and he imbues "Namely You" with a happy feeling. Mainstream modern sax just doesn't get much better than this.

War

The World Is a Ghetto (40th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Avenue/Hip-o, www.hip-oselect.com)

I first saw War co-billed with Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters in Lexington, around 1975, and the funky jazz of Hancock was an apt complement to the jazzy funk of War. This newly remastered edition of the classic War album brings out the instruments with great clarity, and adds over 25 minutes of bonus material, emphasizing the lesser known bluesy side of the band. The title track and the opener, "The Cisco Kid," are both firmly implanted in the DNA of those of us of a certain age. It's great to hear the "album cuts" such as "Where Was You At" and "Four Cornered Room" again. This was a band who blended soulful grooves with a strong jazz side and this author hopes that the first major post-Eric Burdon War album, All Day Music, in a similarly expanded edition soon.

Charles Mingus:

The Jazz Workshop Concerts, 1964-65 (Mosaic, http://www.mosaicrecords.com) © 2012 Martin Kasdan Jr.

Thanks to the hardworking folks at the well-respected Mosaic reissue label, I finally have a listenable copy of the Charles Mingus concert from the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival. I bought the 2-LP set, and bought a Japanese import CD early in the digital era, and the sound quality on both ranged from mediocre to wretched. I am pleased that the engineers have been able to clean up the sound, and present the 25-minute Duke Ellington medley, the 15-minute swirling "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk," and the 25:41 take of "Meditations on Integration" without the interruptions of the 2-LP set, nor the squall of the earlier CD. And this is just one disc of the seven in this LP-size box of mostly previously-unreleased-on-CD material, including a great deal of music not previously available at all. During the period covered here, the Mingus ensembles ranged from the May 13, 1965 Minneapolis recording of "My Favorite Quintet" (with pianist Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond, trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer and saxophonist Charles McPherson) to the piano-less octet performing a short but powerful set at the 1965 Monterey festival. There is an unexpected surprise at the end of this set, as the band marches offstage (per the liner notes, by noted author Brian Priestley) performing "When the Saints Go Marching In," sounding like a brass band from the New Orleans streets.

The earliest two concerts are from April of 1964, with a sextet featuring Eric Dolphy. The first, from New York's Town Hall (partially previously released), opens with Byard's romping tribute to Art Tatum and Fats Waller, "A.T.F.W.," and closes with a ferocious "Fables of Faubus" an hour and a half later. Throughout the other concerts, one can hear Mingus not only exhorting his musicians, but sometimes even calling for specific soloists. Some of the compositions appear on several concerts, such as the leader's farewell to Dolphy, "So Long Eric." However, between the changing personnel and the always-challenging leader, these "duplications" are anything but redundant, and engage the listener in a powerful musical experience. Separate from the rarity of some of the concerts themselves, there are some rarely recorded compositions played here, including political statements such as "They Trespass the Land of the Sacred Sioux" and "Don't Let It Happen Here," during which Mingus intones the lines attributed to Martin Niemöller, beginning with "First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist." The large booklet includes numerous photos, the essay by Priestley, and additional comments by Sue Mingus, who has devoted much of her life to preserving and presenting the music of her late husband. For anyone interested in Mingus, and who perhaps already has some of the seminal recordings, this is a great addition to the canon.

LOCAL JAZZ CONTACTS

With two fourteen-year-olds, it's hard to get out as much as I would like to hear music. As a result, picking and choosing which performances to catch sometimes require that I postpone seeing some of the local musicians and singers in order to not miss the one-night-stands from out-of-town artists. Invariably, I feel guilty, so in an effort to assuage my guilt and, more positively, to provide more exposure to our community of great local jazz performers, I am initiating this feature containing website and e-mail contact information. I am only including those artists who have given their permission to me; some have indicated a preference for website listing only; others have only e-mail addresses. If you wish to be included, drop a line to me with your permission and preferences, at mzkjr@yahoo.com. I reserve the right to edit and to exclude those whose connection to jazz is, in my opinion, tenuous; and this feature may end up online if it begins to take up too much space in print.

MIKE TRACY: www.michaeltracy.com, michael.tracy@insightbb.com, saxophonist and teacher Mike Tracy

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE JAZZ PROGRAM: www.jazz.louisville.edu

BOBBY FALK: www.myspace.com/bobbyfalk, drummer and composer Bobby Falk;

WALKER & KAYS: www.walkerandkays.com, singer Jeanette Kays and guitarist Greg Walker;

JENNIFER LAULETTA: www.jenniferlauletta.com, singer Jennifer Lauletta;

JEFF SHERMAN: jeff.sherman@insightbb.com, guitarist Jeff Sherman;

RON JONES: www.ronjonesquartet.com, rjmusic@ronjonesquartet.com, saxophonist Ron Jones;

STEVE CREWS: www.jazzcrews.com, jazzcat@iglou.com, pianist Steve Crews.

CODA

1) I am always interested in your comments. Contact me at mzkjr@yahoo.com.