Weston Randy Big Band
Montreux Jazz Festival 1985
Label: In + Out
Genre: Jazz / Avant Garde
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piano legend Randy Weston with three albums featuring
previously unreleased live material.
Randy Weston’s 1985 Montreux Jazz Festival performance
captures the power of his Big Band in peak form. With vibrant
arrangements by Melba Liston and soulful tributes like
“African Cookbook” and “Congolese Children,” this recording
celebrates Weston’s deep African roots and boundless
musical vision.
The year 1985 was to become one of the most important in Randy
Weston’s career. After the spectacular success of his concert—
arranged by Melba Liston—at the Academy of Music in his
hometown of Brooklyn in February, he traveled to Europe a few
months later with a smaller, but no less brilliant ensemble. On this
tour, the Big Band was also booked to perform at the prestigious
Montreux Jazz Festival, where the present recording was made.
The performance begins—at the explicit request of Claude Nobs,
founder and director of the Montreux Jazz Festival—with one of
Randy’s signature compositions, “African Cookbook.” It is followed
by “Hi-Fly,” the airy, timeless jazz waltz, and “Portrait of Frank
Edward Weston,” a tribute to his father and one of his greatest
sources of inspiration. The set concludes with “African Sunrise,”
presented in a stunning arrangement by Melba Liston, who,
however, was unable to join the European tour and was replaced
by Hale Smith.
1. African Cookbook (21:55)
2. Hi Fly (10:10)
3. Blues For Strayhorn/
Portrait Of F.E. Weston (08:15)
4. African Sunrise (18:09)
5. Congolese Children (09:12)
6. C-Jam Blues (08:57)
Randy Weston piano | Benny Bailey trumpet | Sahib
Shihab baritone & soprano sax | Talib Kibwe alto &
soprano sax & flute | Benny Powell, George Lewis trom-
bones | Clyde Lucas drums | Wilbur Little bass | Sam
Kelly bongos
&
Particularly noteworthy is the final piece, “Congolese Children,”
one of Weston’s absolute favorites. It is based on a traditional folk
melody of the Bashai tribe, sung by a group of boys attending
a mission school on Lake Kivu in Congo—an experience that
had deeply inspired him. The audience was euphoric, whistling,
cheering, and clapping wildly. Randy Weston and Hale Smith had
no choice but to offer an encore. They chose Duke Ellington’s “C
Jam Blues,” which evolved into an almost magical jam session full
of shimmering rhythms, during which Hale joined Randy at the
piano to play together.
The concert stands as another great yet little-known milestone in
the rich career of the man who was named Composer of the Year
by DownBeat magazine in 1996 and received the American Jazz
Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2000.
Thanks to Jacques Muyal, it is now accessible to jazz fans of the
21st century.