Lester Bowie Sho 'Nuff Orchestra
February 17 1979
Symphony Space
NY, NY
master audience cassette > cdr (transferred and recorded by orchiddoctor)
cdr > eac(secure mode) > peak pro 5.2(adjust volume, trim wave files) > flac(level 6) (tracked/edited by carville, no noise reduction)

total time 185:58

1st concert (91:41)
1 intro 0:40
2 21:22
3 Cool T 11:43
4 12:00
5 13:57 (tape flip 11:38)
6 I Got Rhythm 4:55
7 20:24
8 6:35 God Has Smiled On Me

2nd concert (94:16)
1 intro 1:14
2 10:00
3 ? / 19 Cool T 24:28
4 21:21
(tape flip)
5 19:58
5 I Got Rhythm 7:40
6 God Has Smiled On Me 9:31

Charles BoBo Shaw - drums, two-valve bugle
Philip Wilson - drums
Jack DeJohnette - drums
Steve McCall - drums
King Mock - drums
Titos Sampos - percussion
Juvenal Calderon - percussion
Joseph Bowie - trombone
George Lewis - trombone
Steve Turre - trombone
Michael Keith - trombone
Angel Vazquez - trombone
Emmett McDonald - trombone
Charles Stevens - trombone
Bob Stewart - tuba
Fred Hopkins - bass
Alex Blake - bass
Phil Bowler - bass
Leonard Jones - bass
Don Pate - bass
Rodney Drummer - bass
Peter Warren - cello
Amina Claudine Myers - piano, voice
Hilton Ruiz - piano
Donald Smith - piano
James Newton - flute
Luther Petty - flute
Deborah Manzella - flute
Roscoe Mitchell - saxophone
Joseph Jarman - saxophone
David Murray - tenor saxophone
Reverend Frank Wright - tenor saxophone
John Stubblefield - tenor saxophone
Kalaparush Difda - tenor saxophone
Frank Lowe - tenor saxophone
Maurizio Giammarco - saxophone
Arthur Blythe - alto saxophone
Oliver Lake - alto saxophone
Luther Thomas - alto saxophone
Charles Tyler - baritone saxophone
J.D. Parran - baritone saxophone
Henry Threadgill - baritone saxophone
Jerome Williams - soprano saxophone
Robert Arrow - soprano saxophone
Lester Bowie - trumpet
Eddie Gale - trumpet
Olu Dara - trumpet
Leo Smith - trumpet
Ted Daniel - trumpet
Toshinori Kondo - trumpet
Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet
Frank Gordon - trumpet
Leslie Ford - trumpet
Kamal Abdul Alin - trumpet
Norman Spiller - trumpet
Malachi Thompson - trumpet
Roland Young - bass clarinet
Douglas Ewart - bass clarinet
Peter Kuhn - clarinet
Kelvyn Bell - guitar
Juan Quinones - guitar
Billy Bang - violin
William Patterson - guitar

orchiddoctor's notes:
When the Lester Bowie Big Band concert was announced, I immediately got tickets for both shows. Everyone I knew was buzzing about it. Who would play? What would Lester do? Would it live up to our expectations? It did that and more. The list of musicians can be found on

http://www.okara.com/html/blast_from_past.html

The 50 piece Sho'Nuff Orchestra was composed of a who's who of musicians from St. Louis, Chicago, and New York. The only slight drawback was that the venue--Symphony Space--was not as acoustically sound as, say Town Hall or Carnegie Hall. But budges are budgets and, as was, they would never have pulled it off without backing from La Mama. Truly an adventure: Lester dancing and posturing, occasionally raising his trumpet in triumph or to bleat a few bars, the other musicians going at it like three Arkestras--pure madness. One of the highlights of my journey into this music and a great way to end this series. Another version was upped by blackforest last fall, but this one is complete.

I hope you've enjoyed these tapes as much as I have. I'm hoping to go back to D.C. and copy some 13 reels of Sam Rivers, Kalaparusha, David Murray, Jimmy Lyons, Sunny Murray, Oliver Lake, and others from Studio Rivbea, plus some other cassettes I didn't grab last time. Probably around 30 more shows.

notes from carville:
Thanks to blackforest for the partial tracklisting.
I chose not to patch the tape flip in the 40 minute piece in the 2nd show, but 4 & 5 make up one long "song".
-------------
Bonus track
Lester Bowie solo
NYU
NY, NY
circa 1977-78
1st gen audience cassette > cdr (transferred and recorded by orchiddoctor)
cdr > eac(secure mode) > peak pro 5.2(adjust volume, trim wave files) > flac(level 6) (tracked/edited by carville, no noise reduction)

total time 17:58

1 17:58

Lester Bowie - trumpet and voice

note from carville:
this was filler on a Muhal tape (3/5/77) and took place sometime after that.
Bowie is in a "good mood" to say the least.