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Wayne Escoffery "Veneration"


jeffsjazz

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Great performance last night at the Bath Fest. Full house, I was lucky to be able to get hold of a return ticket at the door. A bit daft of me not to book in advance. :unsure:

Escoffery did just the one tenor solo towards the end of the second half but it was a very good one - reminded me of latish Trane around the vintage of 'Transition'. Incredible lineup of solo talent in this band - Craig Handy, Vincent Herring, Frank Lacy, Conrad Herwig, Kenny Drew Jr..

A couple of wonderful numbers from 'Epitaph', including 'This Subdues My Passion' (wasn't this the arrangement that was recently unearthed by Sue Mingus from the great man's boxed possessions?).

Talking about the great man's boxed possessions, I was able to pick up after the gig a copy of the DVD of the documentary film 'Mingus' - the one where his possessions (including all that music) are emptied into the street after an eviction and where he shoots a gun into the ceiling the night before. An amazing historical record.

Edited by sidewinder
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Yes, Escofferey is pretty good! I've only heard him live once, with the Mingus Big Band, but he was great there!

Then I heard radio broadcasts with that very good Ben Riley Monk band, and with the Mingus Dynasty (a mid-size off-shot of the Mingus BB). I'd say he's a solid player worth watching.

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Wayne is taleneted - when he was in High School he used to sit in with my band in New Haven, a few years later I saw him at a small local club and was amazed at how far he'd come - the only problem he had was deciding what he wanted to be - one week he was Coltrane, the next week Rollins, the next Shorter - in some ways he had too good a talent for mimicry for his own good, but I figured it was just a matter of time until he sorted it all out. Interestingly enough, the comments above indicate that he is still somewhat flexible and working things out - can't complain though, as I wish I had half his chops -

Edited by AllenLowe
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Yes, that's a bit how it seems to me, Allen. All the better he's not (yet?) hyped up all that much...

But then most of the younger tenors on the scene haven't gotten to a point where they have found a real personality... (thinking of all those good guys like Redman, Javon Jackson, Speed, Potter, Seamus Blake, whoever... Mark Turner stands out somewhat, but his stuff with Rosenwinkel is so heady, it gets boring after a while... his ballads album is alright, though... nice to hear some Warne Marsh in between all those Coltrane/Rollins guys...)

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