Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
In 1973, the Charles Mingus Quintet had a week-long engagement at the Strata Concert Gallery in Detroit. Tapes from the performances recently were discovered, and now will be released through the BBE imprint.
(Photo: Hans Kumpf)Set for release Friday is the BBE imprint’s Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden, five CDs or 10 LPs worth of the Charles Mingus Quintet holding forth in Detroit.
Originally broadcast on WDET-FM, a Detroit public radio station, during the troupe’s week-long residency at the Strata Concert Gallery in 1973, the set features extended renditions of “Pithecanthropus Erectus” and “C Jam Blues,” as well as tunes like “Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk” and a bit of radio chatter by DJ Bud Spangler. Mingus here is accompanied by drummer Roy Brooks, pianist Don Pullen, trumpeter Joe Gardner and tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield.
The Mingus Big Band’s upcoming Monday night gig at New York’s Jazz Standard is set to mark the release. Two sets are scheduled: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
For more information about the release, visit the BBE homepage. DB
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
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On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
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