Jazz 825: Mandala play Monk and Mingus

Mandala are Zak Barrett (sax), Dave Jago (trombone), Ted Porter (trumpet), Tony Gooderham (piano), Geof Harris (bass) and Trevor Taylor (drums), a generation-spanning group of top local talent. They are playing music from the hugely influential repertoires of legendary bandleaders and composers Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. These are two of the most important figures in the modern jazz of the 1950's and 60's, and their abilities as composers created some of the most memorable tunes in the whole of jazz. From Monk's pen came staples like Round Midnight, Straight No Chaser, Blue Monk, In Walked Bud, and Well, You Needn't; these are amongst the most frequently re-interpreted  tunes in the jazz canon. Mingus, meanwhile, produced individual classics like Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, Better Git It In Your Soul, and Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, as well as important long-form albums like Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Pithecanthropus Erectus. 

With their three-horn front line, Mandala do full justice to the excitement of Mingus' blues and gospel drenched themes, and the complexity of Monk's angular, off-kilter tunes, built on the foundation of his distinctive, unorthodox piano style.