Speaking of Seamus Blake (see the item below), I looked for a video clip with him in action and came across one of the 28-year-old Blake in heavy company. He follows the late Michael Brecker in solo on Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Porkpie Hat.” All of the other information I can give you is that this was in Japan in 1999 and that the pianist is David Kikoski. The camera work suggests that this was filmed during an earthquake of at least 6.5 on the Richter scale. You may want to take a seasickness pill before you watch. Still, the sound quality is good. Young Blake calmly follows an astonishing solo by an established master and develops one of his own.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
Many thanks for posting the Brecker/Blake solos. The youtube comments include a couple from Blake himself:
yeah i was shakin in my boots!
one of my biggest idols since i was a kid.
this was live in japan at the madarao jazz fest 99
Blake also identifies the bass player as Boris Kozlov and the drummer as Johnathan Blake, which confirms that this is the Mingus Big Band, which did appear at Madarao in 1999. Michael Brecker was also on the bill that year, so maybe he sat in with the band–I was not aware of his ever having formally been a member.