Midnight at Minton's
1973 live album by Don Byas
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Midnight at Minton's is an album by jazz musician Don Byas, first released in 1973. It is a live recording of a 1941 jam session at Minton's Playhouse, the New York City nightclub at which the emerging style of bebop was being pioneered.
| Midnight at Minton's | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1941 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 38:51 | |||
| Label | High Note Records | |||
| Producer | Don Schlitten | |||
| Don Byas chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |  [2] |
It features one of the earliest known recordings of Thelonious Monk, who was then playing piano in Minton's house band.[3][4]
The album is taken from private recordings made by Columbia University student Jerry Newman on a portable acetate disc recorder. Newman made the recordings for "Delayed on Disc" broadcasts on college radio station WKCR — the discs were rushed back to the radio studio shortly after being cut and presented in the style of a live broadcast from the venue.[5]
In a review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos concludes that, "the music itself is priceless, the document of a transitional period from swing to bop, and some of the people that made it happen, especially the underappreciated genius Byas."[6]
Track listing
- "Stardust" (Hoagy Carmichael, Mitchell Parish) – 9:04
- "Exactly Like You" (Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh) – 9:03
- "Uptown" (Don Byas) – 2:45
- "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green) – 7:29
- "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (Fields, McHugh) – 4:07
- "(Back Home Again in) Indiana" (James F. Hanley, Ballard MacDonald) – 6:23
Personnel
- Don Byas – tenor saxophone
- Joe Guy – trumpet
- Thelonious Monk – piano
- Milt Hinton – bass (uncredited in liner notes)
- Kenny Clarke – drums
- Helen Humes – vocals (1,2)
Similar albums
- Live at Minton's – Musidisc 30 JA 5121 (France, LP)
- Midnight at Minton's – Onyx ORI 208 (LP)
- Midnight at Minton's – Polydor 2310341 (LP)