THE QUINTET — Jazz at Massey Hall (aka The Quintet of the Year) (review)

THE QUINTET — Jazz at Massey Hall (aka The Quintet of the Year) album cover Boxset / Compilation · 1956 · Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
js
Arguably the greatest jazz band ever assembled, The Quintet never rehearsed, played only one concert and released only one recording, an unprofessional recording of that one concert. The concert itself seemed to happen more by accident than design and was poorly attended on top of that. The New Jazz Society of Toronto, who sponsored the show, had overlooked the fact that a major boxing match was going down that night and so they were not able to draw enough people to pay the musicians in full. To compensate for the lack of pay, the Jazz Society offered the musicians this sub-standard recording which they had made through the microphones in their PA system. In an attempt to make the recording more professional, Charles Mingus re-recorded his bass and did a good job of that difficult task.

Needless to say, the recording itself is not great, Parker and Diz come through okay, but the drums sound vague and the piano sounds like it is down the hall, but at least both come through good enough to hear. Apparently the bass is in-audible in the originals, but comes through loud and clear in the versions Mingus re-recorded. Despite the poor recording, the music on here is as great as can be expected. For fans of high octane bop, Diz and Bird deliver the goods on “Salt Peanuts” and “Wee” and show why no one will ever equal what they were capable of. “Night in Tunsia” is abstract and modern and points to the future in jazz and the rest of the tunes are great swingin numbers that show everyone’s lyrical side, but especially Bird seems to shine the brightest on these.

In 1953, when this concert went down, bop was in its last years and you can hear sounds of the future here and there. Mingus and Roach play a hard deliberate groove on the mid-tempo numbers that announces the coming of hard bop. Throughout the concert, Parker and Powell push their solos into abstract and almost free areas. The band’s treatment of “All the Things You Are” shows how creative they could be with an otherwise over played standard.

Despite the poor recording, this record is great. Five of the greatest musicians ever performing in top form and obviously having a great time with it. In an interesting side note, this would be Diz and Bird’s last recording together.
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