Mercury Records Collection: MG-20653: Quincy Jones And His Orchestra At Newport '61

MG-20653: Quincy Jones And His Orchestra At Newport '61

Label Type :	white Mercury promotional B
Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	MG 20653A MS1 FF
	SIDE-B	MG 20653B MS1 FF

Comments

Equivalent release: Mercury SR-60653 (stereo).

promotional copy (for broadcast) with white Mercury label.

with original Mercury inner sleeve.

Inside The Groove

An exciting live recording at Newport '61.

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

This is Quincy Jones' 5th leader album on Mercury (in recorded order). Unfortunately his big band has been much underrated among Jazz fans for a long time. Actually his arrangements don't aim for progressive sounds and sometimes sounds conservative, but on the other hand the band always had great soloists and always played powerful as they should.

On this live recording at Newport Jazz Festival 1961, We can confirm the cream of the big band - thrilling unison riffs, energic improvisations by soloists, a whole enthusiasm of the band.

However, I still love March 10th 1961 live performance (at Zurich, Switzerland) far better - it surely captures the best of the best live performance of the Quincy Jones big band. The Zurich live was made public on “The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones: Live!” (Nippon Phonogram 195J-32), a Japanese LP issue in 1984.

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

7 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-A
A-1	21119 (PB4140/PS805)	Meet B.B. (Quincy Jones)	3:54
A-2	21124 (PB4145/PS810)	The Boy In The Tree (Quincy Jones)	4:05
A-3	21121 (PB4142/PS807)	Evening In Paris (Quincy Jones)	5:12
A-4	21125 (PB4146/PS811)	Air Mail Special (Jimmie Mundy - Benny Goodman - Charlie Christian)	4:24
SIDE-B
B-1	21123 (PB4144/PS809)	Lester Leaps In (Lester Young)	6:11
B-2	21120 (PB4141/PS806)	G'Won Train (aka G'Wan Train) (Patti Bown)	6:02
B-3	21122 (PB4143/PS808)	Banja Luka (Phil Woods)	5:56

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

Jimmy Maxwell (tp), Jimmy Nottingham (tp), Joe Newman (tp), John Bello (tp),
Curtis Fuller (tb), Britt Woodman (tb), Melba Liston (tb), Paul Faulise (tb),
Julius Watkins (frh),
Joe Lopez (as), Phil Woods (as), Jerome Richardson (ts, fl), Eric Dixon (ts, fl), Pat Patrick (bs),
Patti Bown (p), Les Spann (g, fl), Art Davis (b), Stu Martin (ds),
Quincy Jones (arr, cond).
Recorded live at Newport Jazz Festival, RI on July 3, 1961.

Recording Director and Supervisor: Jack Tracy.
Recording Engineer: Tom Nola.