Search - Woody Herman :: Monterey Jazz Festival 1979

Woody in 1979

Robert J. Ament | Ballwin, MO United States | 05/08/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Since this is recorded at the Monterey Jazz Festival with guest soloists Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Slide Hampton and Woody Shaw, it should be no surprise that this is a rather hot program. Add in band members like Frank Tiberi, Gary Smulyan, Dave Lalama, and Ed Soph, you know it's going to be good.For me personally, the high spots are two slow selections, Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad" and "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca".Dave Lalama plays some great piano on "I Got It Bad" especially considering this is a band recording. Stan Getz does his usual superlative job on the Michel Legrand tune, breaking into a Latin beat on the second chorus."Manteca" is a real blowing number featuring Diz, Shaw, Hampton and the drumming of Ed Soph.What keeps this from being a "5"?.......nothing more than my lack of objectivity! I will only give a "5" rating if the music is indispensible to me personally, even if it is only one track. Make no mistake! This IS a SOLID jazz big band album that will hold its own against anything. Consider the Herman band, the guest soloists, the composers (Diz, Ellington, Coltrane, Mingus, etc.) and at a prestigious jazz festival and you can't go wrong.I don't play it often enough to rate it as a personal favorite but more hard-core jazz enthusiasts may find it so."