AMG Review of Debut Rarities, Vol. 3

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All Music Guide

A limited-edition released in 1993 by Original Jazz Classics, Debut Rarities, Vol. 3 contains 13 of the 21 tracks resulting from a session or sessions that took place in New York City during September of 1957. This includes quite a number of alternate takes as there are only six titles: "We Got Blue (Untitled Original Blues)," "Stella by Starlight," "Untitled Original Composition," "Autumn in New York," "Long Ago and Far Away" and "Joldi." Discographical indexes list the band under the name of the Shafi Hadi Sextet. Hadi (born Curtis Porter in Philadelphia in 1929) was an alto and tenor saxophonist who worked with Mingus between the years 1956-1959. He is heard in the company of trumpeter Clarence Shaw, baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, pianists Wade Legge or Wynton Kelly, bassists Charles Mingus or Henry Grimes, and drummer Dannie Richmond. What you get here is a progress report from innovative improvisers who were laying the groundwork for the stunning advancements in modern jazz that would take place over the next decade. This is an intriguing chapter from Ming's adventuresome Jazz Workshop years. In the Mingus chronology, it lands right after his Tijuana Moods and East Coasting albums and just before A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry.