Chick Corea and Friends - Stuttgart, Germany 7/5/92 (video)
It’s easy to think of 80s and 90s Chick Corea as being in the modern fusion vein, and I went in with that impression before realizing this was actually a jazz group. I also went in distracted, because in checking the album they were touring on, the line up here should be with Joe Farrell, Eddie Gomez and Steve Gadd, but I don’t particularly remember noticing Farrell at all and thinking he may not have been on this tour or date (or I was more distracted than I thought). Needless to say, this would have been an impressive gig to attend, although it’s particularly in smaller line ups that too many solos are taken, and that’s definitely an issue with this. But it looks and sounds good and everyone seems in fine shape.
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band - Danish Radio TV, Studios 1, Copenhagen 1970 (video)
For jazz, something like this is much more interesting. I’m not particularly familiar with a lot of the big bands from the late 60s and early 70s, but just like every other genre around the time, the mood and direction were experimental and this is a good example of that. For one thing, the main tenor soloist here is Joe Henderson, who at the time period was just in the waxing phase of his electric career. While even the writing for this group was unusual at the time, there are a couple Joe solos on this that are as free as you could imagine and it was fun to see as I’m not as used to Joe playing in this vein and he’s very good with it. I’ve even forgotten who most of the other soloists were, although I’m pretty sure it was Richard Davis on bass and Bob Brookmeyer on trombone. Definitely an area in jazz I need to explore a little more…