Live at Newport'77 (Remastered) (Live) Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band

• 1 Strive for Jive (Live) 09:20
• 2 A-10-205932 (Live) 13:30
• 3 Hangin' Loose (Live) 12:14
• 4 Since Perry / Yet Another Tear (Live) 13:47
• Total Runtime 48:51

Info for Live at Newport'77 (Remastered) (Live)

Live at Newport '77 was the second live recording of the Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band and was followed by another release, Live at Newport II recorded on the same day. Both albums were recorded at the 1977 Newport Jazz Festival.

A fantastic live performance from this legendary ensemble -- and a record that brings a nice sort of edge to the group's already great sound! It's a bit hard to describe -- but somehow the live recording quality seems to create more intensity, maybe more urgency to the way the group emotionally communicates -- maybe partly just the echo and open space of the recording, but also maybe the way the group seems to open up with a fresh on-the-spot energy. In addition to Toshiko Akiyoshi on piano and Lew Tabackin on reeds, the lineup features saxes from Beverly Darke, Dick Spencer, Gary Foster, and Gary Herbig; trombones from Bill Reichenbach, Charlie Loper, Phil Teele, and Rick Culver; and trumpets from Bobby Shew, Mike Price, Richard Cooper, and Steven Huffstetter. Titles include the always-great "Warning Success May Be Hazardous To Your Health" -- plus "Road Time Shuffle", "March Of The Tadpoles", and "Strive For Jive".

Toshiko Akiyoshi, piano
Lew Tabackin, tenor saxophone and flute
Gary Herbig, tenor saxophone
Gary Foster, alto saxophone
Dick Spencer, alto saxophone
Beverly Darke, baritone saxophone
Steven Huffsteter, trumpet
Bobby Shew, trumpet
Mike Price, trumpet
Richard Cooper, trumpet
Bill Reichenbach Jr., trombone
Charlie Loper, trombone
Rick Culver, trombone
Phil Teele, bass trombone
Don Baldwin, bass
Peter Donald, drums

Digitally remastered

Toshiko Akiyoshi
Over the course of a seven-decade career, NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi has made a unique and vital contribution to the art of jazz. In 1929, at the time of her birth, Akiyoshi’s Japanese family resided in Manchuria, China where she studied piano from a young age. At the end of World War II in 1945, Akiyoshi’s family endured hardship and moved back to Japan. To get access to a piano, she took her first job as a musician, playing in a dance-hall band. She was discovered by pianist Oscar Peterson while he was on a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Japan. In 1953, Peterson encouraged producer Norman Granz to record her. While still in Japan, she made her recording debut with Peterson’s rhythm section (Herbie Ellis, Ray Brown and J.C. Heard) which was released in 1954 in both Japan and the U.S. This album led to a full scholarship (including a plane ticket) to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Akiyoshi moved to New York in 1959, playing at Birdland, the Village Gate, the Five Spot, and the Half Note. In 1972 she then moved to Los Angeles with her second husband, saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin. The following year, the couple formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra Featuring Lew Tabackin. According to Akiyoshi’s biography on Mezzrow’s site, their big band was considered one of the most important in the nation/world during the 1970s and 1980s). In 1976, the band placed first in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll, and Akiyoshi’s album Long Yellow Road was named best jazz album of the year by Stereo Review. In 1982, (comma added) Akiyoshi moved to New York and re-formed her band with New York-based musicians; they debuted to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall as part of the 1983 Kool Jazz Festival.

Akiyoshi has recorded over 60 albums as a leader, three as a solo pianist and over 20 with full jazz orchestra. In 2007, she received the nation’s highest jazz honor (National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master), 14 Grammy Award nominations 16 DownBeat Readers’ Poll Awards, and 13 DownBeat Critics’ Poll Awards. In Japan, Akiyoshi has received numerous awards, and has been honored twice by the Emperor of Japan. She has written an autobiography and is the subject of the documentary, Jazz is My Native Language.

This album contains no booklet.