Max Roach: Complete East Berlin 1984

A while ago I loaded up some parts of a Max Roach Quartet concert 1984 in East Berlin up on youtube. Now Franz Hoffmann (you should definitely check his youtube channel, hoffmanjazz), has uploaded other parts of this concert, and asked me to load up the missing track “Giant Steps”. Since I have now done so, I am presenting here all the material that had been broadcasted by GDR TV (Thanks, Franz)

So here you get Max Roach, Odean Pope, Cecil Bridgewater and Tyrone Brown 1984 at the Friedrichstadtpalast in 1984 playing “Good Bait” (from the Otto Flückiger collection):

followed by “Giant Steps” (also from the Otto Flückiger Collection)

followed by “Perdido” (also from the Otto Flückiger Collection)

And finally here is “Six Bits”, sung by Roach (courtesy of Franz Hoffmann). Note that although the GDR TV subtitles note “Six Brits” as the title, it should have been “Six Bits” (These are the words Roach sings):

 

Enjoy!

 

Max Roach Quartet East Berlin 1984: “Good Bait”

After I put up the 1984 clip of the Max Roach Quartet playing “Perdido” in East Berlin back in January 2012 I received some requests for more from this TV Broadcast from the GDR. But I was never in the mood since this required working on the audio (there was only one channel on the VHS-tape).

John Gordons’ Trombone Inc. feat. Al Grey

So it goes! Right after finishing this blog post about trombonist John Gordon, I discovered that there is a clip showing more of Gordon in Otto’s archives. This one was filmed in autumn 1988 and shows Gordon with the group Trombone Incorporated, which he co-led with trombonist Fred Joiner from Philadelphia. The band’s concept was to add a “name” trombonist to get more people to listen. Among the “third” trombonists were people like Slide Hampton, Curtis Fuller, Lou Blackburn.

Lafayette Harris, the band’s pianist in 1988, was so nice as to send me pictures of the first Trombones Incorporated LP, No Tricks, No Gimmicks (Beam International LP T1881), where the personnel consisted of Fred Joiner, John Gordon, Benny Powell (tb) Kenny Barron (p) Leon Dorsey (b) Jimmy Ford (d) and Sam Turner (perc).

For their european concerts in autumn 1988, the third trombonist was the legendary Al Grey. Otto caught this band at the small Q4 jazz club in Rheinfelden – the exact date is unfortunately not known to me (I might find it out though).

So (after a short untitled introduction) you get the Trombones Incorporated playing John Gordon’s composition Landscape which to my knowledge has never been issued commercially.

According to Lafayette Harris jr. (check his website here) the band members on this gig were Fred Joiner, John Gordon, Al Grey (tb) Lafayette Harris jr. (p) Tyrone Brown (b) and Jimmy Ford (dr).

Lafayette also send me an invitation to a memory event in honor of John Gordon some days after his passing on November 27, 2003.

In my opinion it’s really a pity that John Gordon is not better known.

Max Roach Quartet East Berlin 1984

After digitizing the video of Anthony Braxton in East Berlin 1985, I discovered another interesting video on the same old VHS cassette. It’s also from the Jazzbühne series, but a year earlier than the Braxton concert. This one shows Max Roach with Odean Pope, Cecil Bridgewater and Tyrone Brown – Roach’s classic quartet of the 1980s –, filmed on July 16, 1984  in East Berlin.

I have only put up “Perdido” which was the last track of the regular set (before encores), the TV broadcast also ends here. I am sorry for the sound being only on one channel. The complete concert (including encores) was released semi-legally on a CD in the early 1990s as Repertoire (G)REPCD4902-CC.

As you see from the back liner, “Perdido” was not the only piece of classicism the Roach Quartet had to offer that night:

Maybe I  will put up more footage of this concert at later date, let’s see.