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Monterey Jazz Festival 1975 |
List Price: $12.98
Your Price: $11.68 |
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Description:
Brief but delightful turns by Bill Evans and Paul Desmond, two of jazz's most lyrical players, are the high points of Monterey Jazz Festival 1975, an hour-long collection of performances by a disparate group of jazz and blues musicians who appeared at the long-running northern California event that year. Alto saxophonist Desmond (with quartet) brings his inimitably breathy sound to "Emily," while Evans, described in voice-over as "the thinking man's jazz pianist," duets beautifully with bassist Eddie Gomez on Jerome Kern's "Up with the Lark" (Evans reappears later with fellow pianists John Lewis, Marian McPartland, and Patrice Rushen for a swingin' "Billie's Bounce"). Elsewhere the pickings are considerably slimmer. Tunes by blues singers Bobby "Blue" Bland and Etta James are inexplicably limited to about 90 seconds each (sure, the program is advertised as "highlights" from the festival, but this is ridiculous); even Dizzy Gillespie is victimized by a seemingly arbitrary edit (not such a bad thing, as Diz's '70s funk excursions weren't exactly his finest hour), as are David Clayton-Thomas and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Good (and complete) tunes by pianist Lewis and his sextet and flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione (then in his commercial ascendance, with "Feels So Good" about two years away) round out an essentially good show that could have been much, much better. --Sam Graham
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