UMBRIA JAZZ 50th ANNIVERSARY
UJ 50th ANNIVERSARY

Released last year for the 50th anniversary of Umbria Jazz, this double CD (or triple LP numbered edition) was supposed to celebrate the event. In reality, it is a total disappointment. In fact, apart from just two tracks coming from ACTUAL U.J. concerts, all the other tracks are STUDIO recordings and come from already published albums by various artists. It goes without saying that a compilation like this may generally be fine, but it is absolutely incomprehensible not to have published tracks from actual UJ concerts which, if done, would have made sense to celebrate the anniversary discographically. Moreover, in Perugia, there has been for years an excellent record label (Egea Records) that has in its catalog some CDs of festival concerts, and the 'effort' would not have been difficult. For many years I attended the festival and recordings of the concerts were made by the organization. And what about the 'absences' in the selection? Carmen McRae, Joe Williams, Charlie Haden etc., where are they? Another note on the compilation is the absolute lack of names of the musicians accompanying the various leaders. All in all, in my opinion, a genuine celebratory flop.