Newport Rebels – Mysterious Blues
From “Newport Rebels” : 1960 : Candid CJM 8022
The background story on this release is that in 1960 Charles Mingus organized an alternative festival to the Newport Jazz Festival and recruited some like-minded players to join him, thus the title “Newport Rebels”. The original album was credited to the Jazz Artists Guild, although I believe most of the subsequent releases have been released under Mingus’ name even though he doesn’t appear on all the tracks. The opening track Mysterious Blues is the real selling point of the album, as it features Eric Dolphy and Jimmy Knepper sitting in with the Mingus band. Equally as good is the track Cliff Walk which features Max Roach’s quintet from the time with Booker Little that has Jo Jones joining the group on the drums. Somewhat of an oddity in both Mingus’ and Roach’s discography, but worth hearing if only for the great music within.
Players:
On “Mysterious Blues”:
Roy Eldridge – Trumpet
Jimmy Knepper – Trombone
Eric Dolphy – Alto Sax
Tommy Flanagan – Piano
Charles Mingus – Bass
Jo Jones – Drums
On “Cliff Walk”:
Booker Little – Trumpet
Julian Priester – Trombone
Walter Benton – Tenor Sax
Peck Morrison – Bass
Jo Jones – Drums
Max Roach – Drums
