Wow! Duke Pearson Big Band (1969) - never before released

One of the few large groups operating in the late 60s, Duke brought together a group of constantly in-demand NY session players who never had the chance to tour due to non-stop recording sessions. All these guys had worked together at Blue Note over the years and Duke was still the A&R Director and House Arranger at Blue Note when this 1969 concert at the Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore was recorded.


Here's the description from Amazon:

The Duke Pearson Big Band of the late 1960s featured great soloists Donald Byrd, Burt Collins, Lew Tabackin, Frank Foster and Pepper Adams. Drummer Mickey Roker propelled the 16 piece band with fire. All this is on display at the April 1969 Baltimore concert issued for the first time on this CD. Where the studio recordings featured relatively short pieces, this concert presents the band stretching out in full force. Even 44 years later, this is big band jazz at its finest and a clear demonstration of Duke Pearson's great talents as a leader, pianist, composer and arranger.

I will be getting this.

Sounds interesting!