Xanadu All-Stars ”Xanadu At Montreux Vol.1”

Xanadu All-Stars

”Xanadu At Montreux Vol.1”
( LP Xanadu Records, 1978 )
Catalog # 162

Tracklisting:
1. Vamping
2. Afternoon In Paris
3. But Not For Me
4. Get Happy
5. So What

Personnel:
Sam Most (f)
Ronnie Cuber (bar)
Sam Noto (t)
Ted Dunbar (g)
Dolo Coker (p)
Sam Jones (b)
Frank Butler (d)

Notes:
Release Date: July 15, 1978
`Xanadu Records` was a jazz music record label specializing in bebop throughout the 1970s and 1980s founded by `Don Schlitten`, recording and issuing recordings by some legendary names in jazz music such as Dexter Gordon, Al Cohn, Sonny Criss, Shorty Rogers, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Raney, Art Pepper, Ted Dunbar, Bob Mover, Dolo Coker, Barry Harris, Terry Gibbs and many more.

Review:
During one night at the 1978 Montreux Jazz Festival, enough music was performed and recorded by Xanadu’s artists to result in four LPs. The first volume has features for trumpeter Sam Noto (”Get Happy”), baritonist Ronnie Cuber (”Vamping”) and drummer Frank Butler, who takes an extensive drum solo on a 20-minute version of “So What.” In the supporting cast are flutist Sam Most, guitarist Ted Dunbar, pianist Dolo Coker and bassist Sam Jones. All four of these sets (which have different and overlapping personnel) are worth picking up.
BY Scott Yanow (AMG)

Ronnie Cuber Bio:
A powerful baritonist in the tradition of Pepper Adams, Ronnie Cuber has been making excellent records for over 20 years. He was in Marshall Brown’s Newport Youth Band at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival and was featured with the groups of Slide Hampton (1962), Maynard Ferguson (1963-1965), and George Benson (1966-1967). After stints with Lionel Hampton (1968), Woody Herman’s Orchestra (1969), and as a freelancer, he recorded a series of fine albums (both as a leader and as a sideman) for Xanadu and performed with Lee Konitz’s nonet (1977-1979). In the mid-’80s, Cuber recorded for Projazz (in both straight-ahead and R&B-ish settings), in the early ’90s he headed dates for Fresh Sound and SteepleChase and Cuber performed regularly with the Mingus Big Band.
By Scott Yanow (AMG)

Courtesy of Soultrane