Jemeel Moondoc - Live Medford Ma 1985

Jemeel Moondoc Quartet
Jazz Now Festival
Cohen Auditorium, Tufts University
Medford, MA
February 13, 1985



1. Nostalgia in Times Square (Charles Mingus) [15:29]
2. Double X... ? (Moondooc) [15:50]
3. unknown title (Campbell) [14:25]
4. Broadway Blues (Ornette Coleman) [12:57]

[Total time 58:41]

Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax)
Roy Campbell, Jr. (trumpet)
William Parker (bass)
Gerard Faroux (drums)

Looking back through this blog I see no Moondoc has been posted here before. I guess his recordings are few and far between so possibly there aren't any OOP commercial recordings around. This live recording turned up on dime a while ago (thanks to seeder and taper). Heritage unknown, but sounds like a radio broadcast or soundboard recording.

For those of you who may not know much about him, here follows an article from the New York Times from a couple of years after this gig reviewing a concert by the same band, but with a different drummer:-

"MANY younger jazz musicians treat the free jazz of the 1960's as dangerously extreme music; they've settled back into the comforts of structure. But Jemeel Moondoc, an alto saxophonist in his 30's, leads a quartet that plays roiling, volatile, wide-open - and sometimes surprisingly tender - free jazz. MANY younger jazz musicians treat the free jazz of the 1960's as dangerously extreme music; they've settled back into the comforts of structure. But Jemeel Moondoc, an alto saxophonist in his 30's, leads a quartet that plays roiling, volatile, wide-open - and sometimes surprisingly tender - free jazz. The quartet played a muscular, melodic set - one continuous streak of tunes and improvisations - last Monday at the Knitting Factory, 47 East Houston Street, where it will return on Monday. Mr. Moondoc can evoke the bluesy openness of Ornette Coleman, the articulateness of Jimmy Lyons and the harsh tones of Albert Ayler. He can fire off pyrotechnics, but he doesn't just shriek and moan; he uses his technique to create long wordless narratives, shifting from a sprint into aching, ballad-like phrases or pressuring a bright melody until it cracks. His foil is Roy Campbell on trumpet, clear-toned and extroverted, who chases Mr. Moondoc through the music or goads him with upper-register trills and interjections. William Parker on bass and Rashied Bakr on drums, who have worked extensively with Cecil Taylor, are a volcanic rhythm section, rumbling and sputtering and splashing the music forward. The quartet's skill and commitment keep the music utterly contemporary.By JON PARELES Published: June 18, 1987"