Monterey Jazz Festival: 40 Legendary Years [Box]

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Compilation producers: Orrin Keepnews, Tim Jackson. Recorded live in Monterey, California. Includes liner notes by Phil Elwood, Zan Stewart, Clint Eastwood. Performers include: Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, Clark Terry, Paul Desmond Quartet, Bill Evans Trio, Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, Cal Tjader, Bobby Blue Bland, Etta James And The Outlaws, Marian McPartland, Blood, Sweat & Tears, David Clayton Thomas, John Lewis Sextet, Chuck Mangione Quartet. This fascinating three-CD set has 28 performances (all but the Billie Holiday number were previously unreleased) taken from the Monterey Jazz Festival and programmed in chronological order. Starting with Dizzy Gillespie playing an unaccompanied version of "The Star Spangled Banner" that opened the very first festival and progressing up until the 1996 edition, there are many memorable selections. Billie Holiday is assisted by Gerry Mulligan on "Fine and Mellow." Mulligan and Art Farmer team up for an excellent version of "Blueport" that almost but not quite reaches the heights of Jeru's 1960 big-band version. Thelonious Monk is heard in 1964 playing "Straight No Chaser" with a workshop group; there are solos by his longtime tenor Charlie Rouse and altoist Buddy Collette, and a long one by trumpeter Bobby Bryant. In one of their earliest meetings, Dizzy Gillespie (still in his prime in 1973) teams up with 20-year-old trumpeter Jon Faddis on "Manteca." Count Basie's band (with trombonist Al Grey) sounds inspired on "I Needs to Be Bee'd With," as does Joe Williams, who sings the full-length version of "Goin' to Chicago." Wynton Marsalis in 1983 reinvents Thelonious Monk's "Think of One," while Sarah Vaughan sounds typically miraculous on "If You Could See Me Now." The colorful release ends with four outstanding tenor solos: Sonny Rollins on the cooking blues "Keep Hold of Yourself," Bob Berg taking a strong cadenza on "I Loves You, Porgy" with Chick Corea, Joshua Redman having a good time on "Home Fries," and Craig Handy emerging as the main voice on Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island." Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow

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