Apologies for cross-listing here, but I'd love to get some information on a CD that came in a donated collection of jazz. The label is Galaxy Music, Ltd. (MACD 65005-2), it is made in Holland, and the series is given as "The Sound of Jazz" of which this is Vol. 5. The title is "Charlie Mingus" (back cover of the booklet, "Charly Mingus").
The tracks (all composed by Mingus) match a recording session from November 6, 1977 listed in Lord's discography, which included Lionel Hampton, Gerry Mulligan, and Woody Shaw, among others. Also playing tenor sax was Paul Jeffrey, who is listed as the arranger of all the tunes. We have an LP in our collection issued from that session, The music of Charlie Mingus: his final work (OCLC: 8830646).
The donor taped a note to the CD saying "Doesn't sound like Mingus," and some detailed listening bears this out. While the clarity of the CD tracks could possibly result from a very good cleanup and remastering, there are many indications that it's a nearly note-for-note copy of the arrangements by different musicians. The timings and tuning are virtually identical, but a few obvious differences were noted: "Peggy's blue skylight" has no vibes on in the CD, while it does on our LP; "Just for laughs, pt. 2" has an extended bass solo on the CD, missing on the LP; the drum fills in "Fables of Faubus" differ subtly between the 2. It's hard to believe that this recording simply used alternate takes from the session. I haven't yet had the definitive expert opinion that it's just not Mingus, Hampton, Mulligan, Shaw, etc., but I strongly suspect that's the case. The only credits listed on the CD are Mingus as composer and Jeffrey as arranger.
This leads me to suspect the entire series. It appears that this particular disc is from a reissue of an original series on the Cleo label, published in Roermond, Holland. Other volumes feature Winton Marsalis, Ahmad Jamal, Buddy Rich, McCoy Tyner, etc. Does anyone know anything about this series, and whether there was a particular group (perhaps Dutch?) who redid the arrangements?
Thanks in advance.
Alec McLane
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Alec McLane
Music Librarian/Director
of the World Music Archives
Olin Library Phone: (860) 685-3899
Wesleyan University Fax: (860) 685-2661
252 Church St. mailto:[log in to unmask]
Middletown, CT 06459 http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/collections/music/index.html
