Mingus Big Band: Gunslingers For Hire

[Remoteness]

We had the pleasure to record and broadcast the Mingus Big Band at the Jazz Standard on this past New Year's Eve.

The live broadcast which was part of NPR & WBGO's Toast of the Nation was rebroadcast on April 16, 2009 on Jazzset with Dee Dee Bridgewater.

You can hear the complete concert by clicking here.

You can also click to see the photos David Tallacksen took from the day's Rehearsals here.

Set List included the following tunes:
"Gunslinging Bird" (arr. Steve Slagle)
"New Now Know How" (arr. Sy Johnson)
"Self Portrait in Three Colors" (arr. Mingus)
"E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too" (lyric by Elvis Costello, arr. Johnson)
"Cryin' Blues" (arr. Steve Slagle)
"Open Letter to Duke" (arr. Steve Slagle)
"Moanin' " (arr. Johnson)
"Goodbye Porkpie Hat" (arr. Johnson)
"Song with Orange" (arr. John Stubblefield)

Credits:
Scriptwriter Mark Schramm produced our live recording with JazzSet Surround Sound mixer Duke Markos, plus Steve Remote and his team from Aura-Sonic Ltd.

Duke recorded, engineered and mix this performance.
I was the EIC for the date.
Robert Carvell, Jon D'Uva was our system techs for the broadcast & recording.

Thanks go out to artistic director Seth Abramson and Danny Meyer of the Jazz Standard. Dee Dee Bridgewater's recording engineer is Ginger Bruner at KUNV in Las Vegas, with producer Becca Pulliam and executive producer Thurston Briscoe III of WBGO Jazz 88 in Newark, N.J.

Band Members:

Sue Mingus: producer
Wayne Escoffery, Abraham Burton: tenor saxophones
Vincent Herring: alto saxophone
Douglas Yates: alto, soprano saxophone and flute
Lauren Sevian: baritone saxophone
Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Conrad Herwig: trombones
Earl McIntyre: bass trombone, tuba
Randy Brecker, Kenny Rampton, Earl Gardner: trumpets
David Kikoski: piano
Boris Kozlov: bass
Jeff "Tain" Watts: drums

When I get a moment I'll upload some of the pictures I took.

If you interested in any additional information lay it on me folks.

[Dave Ferris]

Thanks, enjoyed that. I also dug your Herbie at Newport thread has well.

Dave Kikoski is one of my favorite pianists.

How refreshing to come to the Remote section of GS where actual serious music and musicians are mentioned and discussed has opposed to 5 pages on Green Day.

[Remoteness]

Thank you so much Dave.

That was very kind of you to say.

One thing you can definitely say about the Remote... forum is we are very serious about the work we do and the folks we capture.

Furthermore, I have a way for you to turn that multiple paged "Green Day" thread...

You can edit your settings so your number of posts per page is increased.
You can use this option to set the number of posts shown in a thread before it splits the display into multiple pages. I have it set to 100 posts per page, so that "Green Day" thread is about 2 pages long for me.

Originally Posted by Dave Ferris

Thanks, enjoyed that. I also dug your Herbie at Newport thread has well.

Dave Kikoski is one of my favorite pianists.

How refreshing to come to the Remote section of GS where actual serious music and musicians are mentioned and discussed has opposed to 5 pages on Green Day.

[PlugHead]

Awesome, Awesome, AWESOME!!!

Gotta love Mingus, not to mention his band is top drawer.

Listening to the radio broadcast ATM - thx Steve!

[henryrobinett]

Oh man. This is awesome. I'll have to check this out later Steve! I love this band. Sue is a trip. Jeff Watts? I didn't know he played with them! Or was it just for the recording? I knew Sy and Mingus, of course. Look forwards to checking this out. Thank you.

[Sonic Lush]

WOW!!! SUPERB!! THANK YOU STEVE!!

I am wondering if you'd break it down here:

Duke is credited with engineer, record and mix.

In the photos, however, I see a very Steve Remote setup on the drums--ie

M160 OH and TLM103 behind shoulder--(but the Beyers do look a little lower than I've seen in other photo documentation you've provided--)

so does 'EIC' mean Engineer In Charge? Else, I Clip? Every Injuneer Can?

this is a great way to start my day.

Sounds so so good.

[Bixby]

Thanks for sharing, Steve - WBGO always enjoys working with you. We look forward to seeing that new truck of yours, as well!

And a reminder to all 'slutz, there's tons of great content (that WBGO and other public radio stations have contributed) at the NPR Music site: stuff like a monthly live broadcast from the Village Vanguard, audio and video from SXSW, etc. So check it out, and support your local public radio station!

-David Tallacksen

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by PlugHead

Awesome, Awesome, AWESOME!!!

Gotta love Mingus, not to mention his band is top drawer.

Listening to the radio broadcast ATM - thx Steve!

Mingus is seriously awesome.
That band truly is top notch.
It was an honor to be part of this production.

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Oh man. This is awesome. I'll have to check this out later Steve! I love this band. Sue is a trip. Jeff Watts? I didn't know he played with them! Or was it just for the recording? I knew Sy and Mingus, of course. Look forwards to checking this out. Thank you.

Yeah man; let me know what you thought of this gig.
Duke Markos did an awesome job recording and mixing this show.
They brought in some ringers like "Tain" for this broadcast/recording date.

Originally Posted by Sonic Lush

WOW!!! SUPERB!! THANK YOU STEVE!!

I am wondering if you'd break it down here:

Duke is credited with engineer, record and mix.

In the photos, however, I see a very Steve Remote setup on the drums--ie

M160 OH and TLM103 behind shoulder--(but the Beyers do look a little lower than I've seen in other photo documentation you've provided--)

so does 'EIC' mean Engineer In Charge? Else, I Clip? Every Injuneer Can?

this is a great way to start my day.

Sounds so so good.

I'd love to break it down for you folks.

Yes, Duke is indeed credited with recording, engineering and mixing this event.

Duke and I have been working together for quite a while now.
We have sub'd for each other from time to time.
I've learned a lot from him -- IMHO, his "less is more" mind-set is totaly on point when it comes to (only one shot) recording live jazz.

We have shared many ideas about recording and stuff.
BTW, he's the cat that turned me on to using a SM98 (surrounded by foam) wedged in the f hole of an upright bass.
It's not the prettiest sound , but very usable when everyone is blasting away on stage.
Duke (at times) likes to go with my mic technique on drums.
It's something we discuss during our plan of attack.
I believe Robert Carvell asked Duke if we were going with my drum mic technique or one of Duke's mic positioning ideas.
Duke went with a modified version of my thingy.
Duke also did the final tweaking on all mic placements.

Yes, 'EIC' does mean "Engineer In Charge."

I'm happy to hear your day started on a good note!

Originally Posted by Bixby

Thanks for sharing, Steve - WBGO always enjoys working with you. We look forward to seeing that new truck of yours, as well!

And a reminder to all 'slutz, there's tons of great content (that WBGO and other public radio stations have contributed) at the NPR Music site: stuff like a monthly live broadcast from the Village Vanguard, audio and video from SXSW, etc. So check it out, and support your local public radio station!

-David Tallacksen

It's my pleasure to post this sort of stuff.
I would have posted it sooner, but we've been busy as of late.

We as well enjoy the great friendship and working relationship we have with you and the wonderful folks at WBGO.

I cannot wait to show you folks the new truck design.
It's like The Bread Mobile on steroids!
Thank goodness we don't get tested for that sort of thing.

Finally, like David said, support your local public radio station!

Enjoy live music each and everyday of the week -- it's good for the soul!

[mastermix]

Hey Steve,

Listening now getting some inspiration for a big band recording I'm doing next Tuesday... sounds great!

BTW went to a really informative AES NY section meeting this week on big band recording history led by Robert Auld... he greatly expanded on his treatise THE ART OF RECORDING THE BIG BAND, a great resource. Been in here checking the big band threads as well.

I still have fond memories of the shop visit during the last AES...

[dafe]

Having it in my cans (watts soloing ).

Great vibe, great players! Thank you, SteveR, for sharing

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by mastermix

Hey Steve,

Listening now getting some inspiration for a big band recording I'm doing next Tuesday... sounds great!

BTW went to a really informative AES NY section meeting this week on big band recording history led by Robert Auld... he greatly expanded on his treatise THE ART OF RECORDING THE BIG BAND, a great resource. Been in here checking the big band threads as well.

I still have fond memories of the shop visit during the last AES...

Very cool linkage my man!

Also, thanks for the kind words.
I enjoyed hanging with you on that last NY AES.
Let's do it again this year.

Originally Posted by dafe

Having it in my cans (watts soloing ).

Great vibe, great players! Thank you, SteveR, for sharing

YES! I trust Duke Markos will chine in one of these days.
He has been meaning to; perhaps this could be the thread that reels him in.

[flober1970]

Waoo!!

Remote did it again!!

thanks a lot, to me you are the only one in this community that offer us some real music!!

If I was not a poor independant "musician/producer" YOU'd be my number one mix eng!

Thanks again for this clear mix makes me feel like I am on stage with my head banging around!!!

F

[Remoteness]

Thank you Flober,

That was very nice of you to say, but Duke Markos was gets all the credit for the mix of this show.

I was there to support Duke and put out any potential fires and such.

[Remoteness]

So, the 2010 Grammy award nominations are in and this live capture made the final Nominations list!

Category 48:
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Mingus Big Band Live At Jazz Standard
Mingus Big Band
[Jazz Workshop, Inc./Jazz Standard]

This is what I'm talkin' about...
Nominees | GRAMMY.com

Good luck to all the nominees!




I see some our esteemed 'Remotesters' have a few goodies going on in other categories.

Very strong!

[Fuzzy Logic]

kudos to you and the crew.
more power to you all!