Resonance's Archival Mingus, Hubbard, & Dorham: This Record Store Day, Go For… Well, The Records

WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SLATE OF ARCHIVAL JAZZ RELEASES, THE VINYL BEATS THE CD EVERY TIME

Here are my reviews of three new Resonance Records offerings: Charles Mingus’s In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, and Freddie Hubbard’s On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco. All three are due out on Record Store Day, April 12; you can pre-order them now.

It’s not Charles’ Mingus’s final set of performances, but it’s close. On June 2 and 3, 1977, the Angry Man of Jazz was nearing the end of the line — grappling with a neurodegenerative disease that would soon be diagnosed as ALS. The audiences for these gigs were small, and Mingus was visibly struggling. But he wasn’t creatively finished — as In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts makes clear.

Recorded at the Teatro Caliseo and Teatro SHA, these shows feature tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford, trumpeter Jack Walrath, pianist Robert Neloms, and longstanding drummer Dannie Richmond. If you exclude large-ensemble projects, this may be the only officially released snapshot of Mingus’s late-period small group.

Despite the physical limits that led to mixed audience reactions, Mingus remained an agile, visionary bandleader — revisiting classics like “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and “Fables of Faubus” (from 1959’s Mingus Ah Um) and exploring newer gems such as “Three or Four Shades of Blues” and “Cumbia & Jazz Fusion.”

Although In Argentina isn’t as consistently fiery as his best-known records, the high points — particularly the solos by Walrath and Ford — are undeniable, as with the record’s overall historical value. If you’re a longtime Mingus devotee, grab it without hesitation. But if you want Mingus at his live peak, try 1960’s Mingus at Antibes, 1964’s The Great Concert of Charles Mingus, or 1974’s Mingus at Carnegie Hall first.

On a spendy SACD player/Streamer (dCS Vivaldi One Apex), in Tracking Angle editor-in-chief Michael Fremer’s basement lair, In Argentina sounds comfortably balanced; Walrath is appropriately bright and penetrating, while Ford is velvety yet mercurial. But on vinyl, you get the entire sonic picture, with the instrumentalists at specific points in the soundfield rather than a ballpark direction. Vinyl is certainly the way to go.

Sound restoration and LP mastering by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab, Salina, KS. Pressed at LeVinylist, Quebec, Canada

With those Jack Walrath solos echoing in my ear, I reached for Freddie Hubbard’s On Fire: Live at the Blue Morocco next. Recorded in 1967 at a long-defunct Bronx club, it’s as combustible as the name implies. As trumpeter Steven Bernstein enthuses in the liner notes, “This recording is insane! It’s one of the most exciting live documents I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s f—ing mindblowing…”

On Fire captures Hubbard and his not-to-be-believed band in peak form — saxophonist and multi-reedist Bennie Maupin, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Freddie Waits, at an intimate, now defunct Bronx jazz club the Blue Morocco.

Disc One features Hubbard originals like “Crisis” (from 1961’s Ready for Freddie) and “Up Jumped Spring”/“Echoes of Blue” (both from 1967’s Backlash). The second disc offers staples like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “Summertime” alongside “Breaking Point,” from the 1964 album of the same name.

The set sounds lively on CD. But once you put on the LP, you get a whole new dimension of depth and atmosphere — urgent, almost ominous. Hubbard’s tone — his tongue, his teeth, the air coarsing through the horn — becomes a tactile presence, not merely a recorded sound. The CD is perfectly fine; however, the vinyl is transcendent.

Sound restoration by George Klabin and Fran Gala at Resonance Records Studio. LP mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering

Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa in the Bronx offers previously unreleased Dorham music from the same venue in 1967. It might be the best-sounding CD of the three, with a rich, focused low end. But that hardly diminishes the vinyl’s appeal.

Dorham, who only belatedly got the renown he deserved, appears here alongside a dream lineup: alto saxophonist Sonny Red, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Denis Charles. The set opens with Dorham’s signature composition, “Blue Bossa,” introduced by Joe Henderson on 1963’s Page One. Next up are a handful of standards and bebop staples, including Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation,” “My One and Only Love,” and Milt Jackson’s “Bag’s Groove.”

Quality-wise, the CD-vinyl gap is slimmer, but the LP still sounds more spacious and alive. Denis Charles’s cymbals linger longer, and the front line’s separation feels extra crisp. If you’re a digital-only listener, the CD won’t disappoint — but if you own a turntable, you’ll savor these 20th-century jazz heroes’ once-in-a-lifetime performances all the more.

(And, it must be said: we played the costly CD player against a less costly turntable — and the vinyl, even a tad diminished, still won out. Just in case the point needed further driving home...).

Sound restoration by George Klabin and Fran Gala at Resonance Records Studio. LP Mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab, Salina, KS.

The Hubbard and Dorham releases were recorded by Bernard Drayton on a Revox G-36 1/2 track tape recorder running at 7.5 IPS.