Midnight at Minton's is an album by jazz musician Don Byas, first released in 1973. It is a live recording of a 1941 jam session at Minton's Playhouse, the New York City nightclub at which the emerging style of bebop was being pioneered.
Midnight at Minton's | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 1973 | |||
Recorded | 1941 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 38:51 | |||
Label | High Note Records | |||
Producer | Don Schlitten | |||
Don Byas chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [2] |
It features one of the earliest known recordings of Thelonious Monk, who was then playing piano in Minton's house band.[3][4]
The album is taken from private recordings made by Columbia University student Jerry Newman on a portable acetate disc recorder. Newman made the recordings for "Delayed on Disc" broadcasts on college radio station WKCR — the discs were rushed back to the radio studio shortly after being cut and presented in the style of a live broadcast from the venue.[5]
In a review for AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos concludes that, "the music itself is priceless, the document of a transitional period from swing to bop, and some of the people that made it happen, especially the underappreciated genius Byas."[6]