Don Menza - Live at Carmelo's (2-disc)
Remaster release by Fresh Sounds Records includes six previously unreleased tracks. Never heard of him until reading Art Pepper's book where he mentions how terrific Don is. And I agree. Also very well recorded.
These live performances at Carmelo's were a great experience for me. It was a chance to play with some of my favorite players and, as time has proven, they have become jazz legends. Because of the time limitations of LP s, we had to choose from 2 nites of recording and only six tunes were picked for the original LP release. Here are some of the other tunes played on that historic live recording. Sam Noto was in town with the Bob McConnell Big Band. Sal Nistico flew in from N.Y.C. and the rest of us were here in L.A.
Thanks to the efforts of the late Herb Wong (my good friend) we had the opportunity to record the music of Frank Strazzeri and some of my charts. These charts were originally written for trumpet-tenor-trombone, but after the untimely death of Frank Rosolino everything was put on hold. On these recordings I played the trombone parts on baritone and some on alto.
It was curious that all the players on these recordings are from the East coast, and yet everyone considered us West coasters (always thought of as the cool school). As you will hear, these takes are anything but cool. My thanks to Jordi and Fresh Sound for re-releasing these recordings. - - Don Menza, Los Angeles, October 2015
