Customer Reviews

Live At The Village Vanguard

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Extremely unfortunate that, like many of his other albums recorded in the '60s and '70s, this superior effort by E. Jones is now available only as an expensive import. The premier live albums by the great drummer are Live at the Lighthouse, Vols. 1 and 2, but this one isn't far behind.

For this date, Elvin was joined by George Coleman, one of the best of his many horn sidemen. As was often Elvin's preference, there was no piano, so Coleman had to carry the solo load himself, and he brought it off brilliantly. To say that a hornman playing with Elvin needs plenty of power is an understatement, and Coleman brings a big, lusty soulful sound to all the tunes. But he also showed the taste to easily handle tunes at a slower pace, particularly the lovely "Laura."

Jones is pure power throughout, particularly on the album's scorcher, "Mr. Jones," taken at a faster piece than the studio version also recorded during this period. You can see in this piece that without bandmates who could match his power, Elvin would simply blow everybody off the stage. Fortunately, Coleman is up to the task, as is the trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson, who joins the band on this track only and doesn't waste the opportunity to get in some great licks.

I've read reviewers (Penguin, you know who you are) who tend to downplay E. Jones's output as a leader over the 35 years that have elapsed since Coltrane's death. The general knock seems to be that he hasn't changed enough and that he isn't a great composer. Well, both "charges" might apply to Art Blakey, who had a pretty fair career and whose contributions to jazz are normally not questioned. Like Art, Elvin has provided a forum and proving ground for some of the finest horn players of the modern jazz era, and also like Art, his enthusiasm for unadorned, straight-from-the-heart improvisation has never flagged.

Expensive pickup, but another avenue might be the original vinyl for those who still collect.

The primary reason I picked up this cd, recorded October 1, 1967, was because I always enjoyed the baritone sax work of Pepper Adams, albeit Dizzy is acknowledged to be one of the best trumpet players of all time.

These are lengthy selections, four of which were edited in earlier releases. The shortest track on the set is over 9 minutes with the remainder clocking in at 11 plus minutes or better. I think the lengthiness of the individual cuts, while allowing plenty of solo space, leaves a few moments of rambling but generally very good as would be expected by the personnel. Elvin Jones is the drummer on the first 2 tracks of the first disc with Mel Lewis on the remaining cuts. Both Richard Davis on bass and Chick Corea on piano make up the rest of the rhythm section for the entire session. I felt that there was a little more creativity shown on the first disc probably due to the unusual instrumentation. Ray Nance, a fine trumpet player in his own right, and Duke Ellington's "string section" for years, sat in playing violin. The remaining tunes featured trombonist Garnett Brown in place of Nance and seemed more in a conventional setting. It was interesting to note that the first track, "Birk's Works", was originally misidentified on the original release as "Dizzy's Blues". You'll enjoy this if you are fans of these musicians and into good bop.

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard in the early 70's The basic group is Coleman on Tenor - Wilbur Little on bass & Jones on drums. Marvin Peterson on trumpet is added for the 15 min. track on which Jones is featured also. George is featured all the way on the 2 standard semi-ballads without stopping for a bass solo. Little is not heard in solo at all. - Good Show - Certainly more Boppish than Avant.