Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Trumpeter, Educator Jim Rotondi Dies at 61
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Miles Davis performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, during 1969—not long after recording Bitches Brew, which was released 50 years ago.
(Photo: YouTube)Come for Chick Corea’s headband, and stay for Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter playing unison lines.
A live set, captured during November 1969 at the Tivoli Koncertsal in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been posted online. The recording was made available, in part, as a balm for sitting around inside for more than a week. But the music’s also intended to mark the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew being issued; the album was recorded in August 1969 and released March 30, 1970.
“During this difficult and uncertain time, I like so many others have found solace in music and film,” Stanley Nelson, director and producer of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, wrote in an email. “My heart has felt so full in recent days since many folks have reached out after finding their own comfort from streaming my film ... . We can learn so much from Miles, but what we should all be thinking about in this current moment is his immense ability to constantly expand his mind and creative capacity during tough times in his own life. No album better exemplifies that than his career-resetting, psychedelic opus Bitches Brew—and on its 50th anniversary I know what I’ll be jamming out at home to.”
Legacy Recordings also is selling copies of The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, released in 1998, as well as new double-LP gatefold version of the original album.
Stream the entire Copenhagen set here. DB
Jim Rotondi was acclaimed for his wide, round trumpet tone, remarkable virtuosity and assured swing.
Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Charles Lloyd, seen here at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, makes DownBeat Poll history!
Jul 11, 2024 12:23 PM
The incomparable Charles Lloyd swept the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming the first artist ever to earn…
“Being president of Blue Note has been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me,” Was said. “It’s a gas to serve as one of the caretakers of that legacy.”
Jun 4, 2024 12:21 PM
Sitting with Don Was is a comfortable and unhurried exercise. He may seem slightly reserved at first, but ideas and…
The Century Room in downtown Tucson, Arizona, was born in 2021.
May 21, 2024 12:58 PM
Players got to play. It’s long been a part of jazz history: When there’s a venue vacuum, when there are fewer…
“She reminds me of my childhood and makes we want to cry,” Cécile McLorin Salvant, pictured here with writer Ashley Kahn, said of Dianne Reeves.
Jun 11, 2024 12:31 PM
Italy’s Umbria Jazz Winter is one of those rare annual festivals that not only coincides with a major holiday —…
