The Evening of the Blue Men | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 1979 | |||
Recorded | March 30, 1979 | |||
Venue | St. Mark's Church, New York City | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 40:41 | |||
Label | Muntu | |||
Jemeel Moondoc chronology | ||||
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The Evening of the Blue Men is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc with Muntu, which was recorded live in 1979 at NYC's St. Mark's Church and released on his own Muntu label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-CD box Muntu Recordings on the Lithuanian NoBusiness label. [1] This second Muntu unit, a pianoless quartet consisting of Moondoc, trumpeter Roy Campbell, bassist William Parker and drummer Rashid Bakr, made its first performance in December 1978 at Ali's Alley. [2] [3]
In a review of the Muntu box for AllAboutJazz, John Sharpe says about the album "Without piano, Moondoc's tone sounds lighter and airier, his Ornette Coleman influence more to the fore. Campbell's fluent, slurred legato blends pleasingly with the reedman's plangent holler." [4]
In a review for Paris Transatlantic, Clifford Allen wrote: "Blue Men combines a ringing, sectional quality suggesting Cecil Taylor with a singsong Ornette vibe. Moondoc is... fluid in his exhortations, and though his earlier more ragged style is intriguing, such easy confidence is a gas to hear. As he builds into tortured peals and earthy honks, Campbell swoops in with crackling explosions, joining the incision of Clifford Brown and Donald Ayler to the joviality of Don Cherry. Coupled to the triple-time bombs of Bakr, the accompanying shouts of other band members are understandable... It's a shame that Evening of the Blue Men received such limited circulation at the time, for it might otherwise have been judged a modern jazz classic." [5]
Other Dimensions In Music is an American free jazz group founded in the 1980s.
Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr. was an American trumpeter frequently linked to free jazz, although he also performed rhythm and blues and funk during his career.
Rashid Bakr is an American free jazz drummer.
Jemeel Moondoc was a jazz saxophonist who played alto saxophone. He was a proponent of a highly improvisational style.
First Feeding is the debut album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc with the Ensemble Muntu, which was recorded in 1977 and released on his own Muntu label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-CD box Muntu Recordings on the Lithuanian NoBusiness label.
Judy's Bounce is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded live in 1981 and released on the Italian Soul Note label. He leads a trio with bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Ed Blackwell. The title track is dedicated to concert producer Judy Sneed.
Konstanze's Delight is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded live at the Third Street Music School in 1981 and released on the Italian Soul Note label. He leads a sextet that features Muntu's members Roy Campbell on trumpet and William Parker on double bass, occasional members Khan Jamal on vibraphone and Ellen Christi on wordless vocals, and Denis Charles on drums.
Nostalgia in Times Square is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in 1985 and released the following year on the Italian Soul Note label. He leads a quintet that features Ornette Coleman guitarist Bern Nix, former Roland Kirk pianist Rahn Burton, bassist William Parker and drummer Denis Charles. This is Moondoc's first date with piano since his 1977 debut album, Muntu's First Feeding.
We Don't is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc with drummer Denis Charles, which was recorded in 1981 but not issued until 2003 by the Eremite label. The title track is a traditional Caribbean tune.
Tri-P-Let is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in 1996 and became the first release on the Eremite label. It was Moondoc's first recording since 1985. He leads a trio with two Boston based musicians: bassist John Voigt and drummer Laurence Cook. "Triplet" is an extension of the album Judy's Bounce. "Another One the Hard Way" is dedicated to Ornette Coleman, while "Campbell’s Soup" is named after trumpeter Roy Campbell. "Ruby Riches" has the same scale as John Coltrane used in his song "Dear Lord".
Spirit House is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded live in 2000 at the Magic Triangle Jazz Series organized by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and released on the Eremite label. It was the debut recording by the Jus Grew Orchestra, a large ensemble founded by Moondoc in the early 80s. For this concert Moondoc studied Butch Morris's conduction techniques of guided improvisation with hand gestures. Morris was the original conductor of the band.
Live in Paris is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in 1999 at the Banlieues Bleues Festival, in the northern suburbs of Paris, and released on Cadence Jazz. His All-Stars quintet features two longtime associates: trumpeter Roy Campbell and bassist William Parker, and two members of the Jus Grew Orchestra: saxophonist Zane Massey and drummer Cody Moffett. It was the first of Moondoc's small group releases with another saxman.
Live at the Vision Festival is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded live at the 2001 Vision Festival and released on Ayler Records, a Swedish label founded by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn. It was the second recording by the Jus Grew Orchestra, a large ensemble founded by Moondoc in the early 80s.
Live at Glenn Miller Café Vol 1 is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in Stockholm and released on Ayler Records, a Swedish label founded by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn. Moondoc leads a trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. The rhythm section had recorded the studio album ...and William Danced a few hours earlier with local saxophonist Anders Gahnold.
New World Pygmies vol. 2 is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and bassist William Parker, which was recorded live in 2000 and released on the Eremite label. The first disc documents a duo performance from Madison, while the second includes guest drummer Hamid Drake from a Chicago set at the Velvet Lounge.
The Zookeeper's House is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in 2013 and released on Relative Pitch Records. It was his first album leading a full band in over a decade.
Swimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill and Sorrow is an album by American jazz trombonist Steve Swell which was recorded in 2006 and released on the French RogueArt label. It was the debut of Fire into Music, a quartet with Jemeel Moondoc on alto sax, William Parker on double bass and Hamid Drake on drums.
Live at the Sunset is the fourth album by free jazz collective quartet Other Dimensions In Music, composed of trumpeter Roy Campbell, multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, bassist William Parker and Hamid Drake replacing regular drummer Rashid Bakr. It was recorded at the Sunset club in Paris in 2006 and released on the French Marge label.
The Astral Revelations is a live album by the Jemeel Moondoc Quartet, led by saxophonist Moondoc, and featuring pianist Matthew Shipp, double bassist Hilliard Greene, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. Moondoc's final recording prior to his death in 2021, it was recorded on February 5, 2016, at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, and was released in 2018 by RogueArt.
Muntu Recordings is a three-CD box-set compilation album by alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and the ensemble known as Muntu. Disc 1 restores to circulation the group's debut album First Feeding, recorded in a New York City studio in 1977, and originally issued on vinyl that year by Moondoc's Muntu Records as the label's inaugural release. On First Feeding, Moondoc is joined by trumpeter Arthur Williams, pianist Mark Hennen, double bassist William Parker, and drummer Rashid Bakr. Disc 2 is a reissue of Muntu's second recording The Evening of the Blue Men, recorded live at St. Mark's Church in New York City in 1979, and originally issued on vinyl that year as the Muntu label's second and final release. On this recording, Moondoc is accompanied by trumpeter Roy Campbell, double bassist Parker, and drummer Bakr. Disc 3 is a previously unissued 1975 live recording from Ali's Alley in New York City featuring Moondoc, Parker, and Bakr. Muntu Recordings, released in 2009 by NoBusiness Records, also includes a 115-page book containing essays, photographs, and a complete Muntu sessionography.