On Saturday, October 10th, the “All Our Colors: The Good Road Concert” was held in support of The Traditional Circle of Indian Elders & Youth with performances by Santana, the Steve Miller Band, Mickey Hart, Jackson Browne, John Lee Hooker, John Trudell and Graffiti Man, White Boy and the Wagon Burners, and Red Thunder.

On the following day, the “Healing the Sacred Hoop: The Next 500 Years” concert featured sets by Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, Ry Cooder and David Lindley, Todd Rundgren, Cris Williamson and Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman with proceeds benefiting the International Indian Treaty Council.

With pow-wows, fine art exhibits, native foods and video theater in addition to the amazing line-ups, there was a respectful and celebratory atmosphere throughout the weekend. That spirit was picked up on by the performers as well, who gave unique shows filled with guest appearances, dedications and heartfelt speeches on both days. Today from the Concert Vault, we’re releasing two of the All Our Color sets, with an acoustic Steve Miller Band show and a Jackson Browne performance featuring Bonnie Raitt, David Lindley and more sitting in on stage…in fact, there may have even been a guest appearance by Bill Graham’s spirit to help Browne tune his guitar:

For more informative previews of these new recordings, here are Jackson and Bonnie performing “World In Motion” and the Steve Miller Band playing”Living In the U.S.A.”:

This coming Friday, we’ll also be releasing Santana’s headlining set from that first evening, featuring appearances by his brother Jorge Santana, Ry Cooder, and Steve Miller. In the meantime, you can also find a collection of posters, serigraphs, pelons, vintage tickets and photography from the weekend in the Vault Store.

[All Our Colors / Healing the Sacred Hoop is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Click on the links and images below to stream and download the entire concerts, and to read more about the evening and these legendary jazz performers (the excerpts below were taken from the concert summaries written by esteemed jazz journalist Bill Milkowski).

McCoy Tyner
“Tyner was 40 and in fine form on this June 28th solo set at Carnegie Hall. On the forceful modal opener, “Song of the New World,” he runs cascading lines with the right hand while slamming signature chordal statements with the left. And his avant-garde asides on this turbulent number are positively Cecil Taylor-esque. His stunning extrapolation on Billy Eckstine’s “I Want to Talk About You,” the gorgeous ballad immortalized on John Coltrane’s 1965 Ballads album, is a virtuosic turn by the great pianist in full stride. And he summons up his most potent display of keyboard pyrotechnics on the closer, a passionate solo piano rendition of John Coltrane’s “The Promise,” which Tyner had recorded with Trane on the 1963 Impulse classic, Live at Birdland.”

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Bill Evans
“Bill Evans begins this rare solo piano concert by announcing to the Carnegie Hall crowd: “I’ve played here a couple of times before and I haven’t enjoyed the piano being amplified. I’m going to try to play without amplification, so…see what happens.” And from there he launches into a crystalline, spellbinding set of tunes that showcases his delicate touch, his very personal harmonic vocabulary and dramatic use of space.”

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Mary Lou Williams
“Williams opens her set with a dazzling solo piano medley that covers five primary styles of music – spirituals, ragtime, Kansas City swing, blues and boogie woogie – each played with rare authority and swagger. [Buster] Williams joins her for an unnamed Count Basie styled jump blues number that is fueled by his unerring walking lines. The bassist then takes the lead in playing the melody to the Cole Porter jazz standard “I Love You,” which is underscored by Mary Lou’s consummate accompaniment. They next turn in a rendition of John Stubblefield’s modern blues number “Baby Man” and close out their Carnegie show with a flourish on Mary Lou’s “Medi II” (from her 1974 album Zoning), which showcases her most aggressive playing of the set.”

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Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine
“After blazing the fusion trail in the ‘60s with The Free Spirits and Gary Burton’s groundbreaking quartet and during the early ‘70s with his electrifying bands Eleventh House and Foreplay, pioneering guitarist Larry Coryell turned to the purity of acoustic guitar by the end of the decade, if only to give his ears a rest. His first acoustic project was Twin House, a 1976 duet encounter with the great guitarist from Brussels, Belgium, Philip Catherine. They followed up in 1978 with Splendid. The two six-string wizards culled from both of those superb studio outings for their appearance together at the 1978 Newport Jazz Festival.”

[Newport Jazz: Three Pianos and Two Guitars is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Mose Allison – January 21, 1977
Allison’s profoundly wry and witty lyrics, along with his delectable musical style combining elements of jazz and blues, have made him a true American treasure. His influence on the British rock scene in particular has been especially noteworthy, with his compositions appearing on albums by The Who, Van Morrison, Yardbirds, The Clash and Elvis Costello. This newly released Mose Allison concert recording finds him playing within a trio format with bassist Jack Hannah and drummer Jerry Granelli, and showcases those unique lyrical and musical traits that make him a living legend.

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Art Lande – May 13, 1976
This solo piano recital by Art Lande took place a month prior to recording the debut Rubisa Patrol album, though he was already well known on the local San Francisco jazz scene. Improvising on familiar jazz standards, including songs written by Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, Lande’s explorations move from mesmerizingly plaintive to friskily playful, but are beautiful regardless of the mood.

[New Jazz Releases: Mose Allison & Art Lande is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Preview the recordings with the tracks below, and click on the headers to hear and download the entire concerts. Enjoy!

Elvin Jones Quartet
As part of a bill for an evening “Tribute to Trane” concert, Jones and his quartet at the time (bassist David Williams, guitarist Ryo Kawasaki and saxophonist Pat LaBarbera) tackled the four-part suite from the spiritually charged A Love Supreme, the classic John Coltrane album that featured Jones on drums. Though he had left Coltrane’s quartet ten years prior (shortly before Coltrane’s death) and was approaching his 49th birthday at the time, Jones proves he was still on top of his game and up to the task of fueling this set. A powerful tribute indeed.

George Coleman Septet
A powerhouse tenor saxophonist with a robust tone that speaks of his apprenticeship during the early ‘50s with B.B. King, Coleman continues to be one of the most authoritative and respected players on the jazz scene today. At this Carnegie Hall performance his group played renditions of numbers that later appeared on Coleman’s 1977 album as a leader, Revival. Whether navigating unison lines at breakneck speeds, performing lush ballads, or soloing with blazing heat, everyone in the band is on fire (though pianist Harold Mabern deserves a special mention) during this phenomenal set.

Anthony Braxton Ensemble
Employing a heavily theoretical approach to jazz, Braxton stunned this Carnegie Hall crowd with his highly idiosyncratic music. His usual quartet featuring Barry Altschul on drums, Dave Holland on bass, and George Lewis taking the brass seat was augmented by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams for this line-up’s one-off performance of his eight-movement “Composition No. 70.” Though Braxton dedicates the piece to Duke Ellington beforehand, the challenging music has more in common with 20th century classical composers like Stockhausen and Varese who disregarded traditional forms of composition.

Ted Curson
This Carnegie Hall concert marked trumpeter Ted Curson’s return to the United States after being abroad (mostly in Denmark) since the late 1960s. An aggressive soloist with a distinct edge in his trumpet style, Curson easily straddled the hard bop and free bop divide, and there are excellent examples of each in this set.

[A Trane Tribute and a Carnegie Afternoon is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Preview the sets with the single tracks below, and click on the headers and images to stream and download the entire recordings.

Mance Lipscomb
Although Lipscomb most certainly played the blues, he preferred to be classified as a “songster,” which better reflected his wide-ranging repertoire. That diversity is evident is this set, as he plays many of the songs from his now classic Texas Songster release (Arhoolie). This clear recording also provides an excellent opportunity to hear his “dead-thumb” country-blues fingerpicking style, wherein his propulsive bass lines anchored dance-like melodies, a perfect complement to his warm and engaging vocal style that works equally well whether he’s being serious, sad, or funny. Taken together with the immediacy and spontaneous interaction with the Ash Grove audience in this recording, this is a fantastic example of Lipscomb as one of the last remnants of the nineteenth century folk tradition.

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Lightnin’ Hopkins
The most prolific recording artist of all the Texas bluesmen, Lightnin’ Hopkins saw many changes within the blues genre over the course of his career, but he never strayed far from his trademark soulfully mournful (or mournfully soulful) sound. Hopkins’ intricate boogie riffs influenced countless guitar players and confounded just as many more, while his lyrical improvisation made nearly every live performance a unique experience, and this brief recording featuring Hopkins on electric guitar is a fine example of both. His playing is the real highlight of this show, but you’ll also enjoy a humorous exchange having to do with “technical difficulties” reminiscent of a much simpler time.

[Mance and Lightnin’ – Texas Blues at the Ash Grove is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

B.B. King
At this point in his career, B.B. King was universally acknowledged as “King of the Blues.” Fronting a nine-piece band, which included a horn section, King engaged his audience in earthy storytelling, authoritative string-bending and sanctified gospel-holler singing through his exhilarating set.

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Cannonball Adderley Quintet
By 1975, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, a key member of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue sessions from 1959, was fully immersed in the burgeoning fusion movement, as was Davis himself. This more experimental ‘70s version of Cannonball was at odds with the portrait of the man who had become such a prominent figure on the soul-jazz scene of the ‘60s, but Adderley did not entirely turn his back on his own roots, either. In this 1975 set, you can hear songs representing his past and his present styles.

Sadly, Cannonball died on August 8, 1975, just one month after this Newport gig.

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The Stylistics
One of the most popular of the Philly soul groups of the 1970s, The Stylistics had 12 consecutive top ten hits on the R&B charts during the decade. Led by the soaring, distinctive falsetto of lead singer Russell Thompkins, Jr., The Stylistics brought their popular sweet R&B sound to the Nassau Coliseum as the evening’s headliners. Their set focused on their trademark velvety smooth romantic ballads they are so well known for, though there are also a few upbeat numbers thrown in for good measure. And, of course, they close out the set with their biggest hit, the gorgeous “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” dedicated to all the ladies.

[A Salute to Soul and Jazz is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Thelonious Monk Quartet
By the time of this appearance at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Monk’s health was in decline and his emotional state was no better, having had been in and out of hospitals during the early ‘70s, and barely gigging at all in 1973 and 1974. Monk’s only public appearance in 1975, in fact, came at this July 3rd performance, working with one of his most adventurous bassists in Larry Ridley, his son Thelonious Jr. on drums, and saxophonist Paul Jeffrey. Mixing some bluesy elements throughout a set of coolly dissonant jazz, Monk proved that, in spite of everything else, he was still able to wow an audience.

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Keith Jarrett Quartet
In his fourth appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, pianist-composer Keith Jarrett continued to ride a wave of popularity that would only increase dramatically with the release of The Koln Concert at the end of the year, one of the best-selling solo albums of all time. With a potent quartet consisting of two former members of Ornette Coleman’s group in tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman and bassist Charlie Haden, along former Bill Evans drummer Paul Motian, Jarrett and his crew performed material from 1975’s Shades, drawing from the avant-garde while revealing traces of folk, rock, country and gospel music.

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Cleo Laine & John Dankworth
A world-class jazz singer with a husky contralto voice, dark velvet delivery and a penchant for virtuosic scatting, England’s Cleo Laine has been compared to such all-time greats as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. A household name on the British jazz scene since the 1960s, she made her Stateside debut in 1972 and the following year made a gala appearance at Carnegie Hall, which was documented on an acclaimed live album. In 1975, Laine appeared at the New York edition of the Newport Jazz Festival in concert at Avery Fisher Hall with an ensemble led by her husband, saxophonst-clarinetist John Dankworth. For those not yet acquainted with England’s First Lady of Song, this 1975 Newport Jazz Festival set will serve as a proper introduction to the great Cleo Laine

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John Dankworth & His Orchestra
A national treasure in his native England, the late Sir John Phillip William Dankworth made his second Newport appearance in 1975, 16 years after his debut from 1959. In this Avery Fisher Hall concert, the acclaimed saxophonist-composer-bandleader rolled out his first-ever American band, which included such ‘ringers’ as tenor sax aces Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Frank Wess, trumpeter Red Rodney, trombonist Dick Griffin and baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne.

[Newport ‘75 – Monk, Jarret, Dankworth & Laine is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Freddie Hubbard Quintet
Still riding the waves of success from 1971’s First Light album, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard showcased his sterling chops and audacious, risk-taking tendencies as a soloist in this short performance. In the group’s cover of the Philly soul tune, “People Make the World Go ‘Round,” Hubbard starts off mellow before building to a blazing peak, while his own “Back to Georgia” contains some funkier passages and his most electrifying playing of the night. Notably, a 22-year-old Lenny White was the drummer for this performance, just a short time before he would join Return to Forever.

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Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
As if the exuberant and legendary vibraphonist’s big band didn’t have enough all-stars in it already with drummer Bernard Purdie, organist Milt Buckner, and saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Illinois Jacquet, the group was also joined by Gene Krupa and Teddy Wilson at this 1972 performance to help Hamp romp through some of their old Benny Goodman Quartet swing era classics. But, always hip, the group wasn’t just resting on their laurels, and throughout their 2-hours of stage time they also included jazzed up covers of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” and the Band of Gypsys’ “Them Changes” as well.

[Newport Jazz: Freddie Hubbard & Lionel Hampton is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Jefferson Airplane
This set from September of 1970 contains songs reflecting the political upheaval of the times as well as the splitting factions within the group itself. Besides some classics from the Airplane catalog, the group worked their way through some straight blues courtesy of the Hot Tuna fellows; some politically oriented, sci-fi influenced material from Paul Kantner; and some high-energy soul from Marty Balin. In spite of the various styles of music, the set sticks together as a cohesive whole since everyone adds their unique touch to each other’s material, and also because of the relatively recent addition of Joey Covington on drums giving the music a more muscular edge.

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Joy of Cooking
Not to be confused with anything Rombauer-related, the Joy of Cooking was a Berkeley-based group of the late 1960s. An anomaly for the time, the band was led by two women – keyboardist Toni Brown and guitarist Terry Garthwaite – whose music was based on a recipe that blended elements of folk, rock, country, jazz and blues into a sound uniquely their own. They were also ahead of their time for being one of the first bands to deal with feminist and environmental issues. Although it unfortunately only contains two songs, today’s Vault release is one of the earliest surviving live recordings of the group and an excellent example of what their sound was all about.

[Jefferson Airplane & the Joy of Cooking is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
With Art Blakey dropping bass drum bombs, you could always count on the Jazz Messengers for an aggressive set of swing. But this 1973 performance kicks things up a notch with the inclusion of guests — saxophonist Sonny Stitt and drummer Roy Haynes spur on some friendly one-upmanship, resulting in some extraordinarily explosive moments throughout the set.

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Bill Evans
Evans delivers intimate, unaccompanied readings of George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy,” Steve Swallow’s heart-wrenchingly beautiful “Hullo Bolinas” and Jimmy Van Heusen’s gorgeous “But Beautiful,” each rendered with signature touch and eloquent phrasing. As usual, his impressionistic style is reminiscent of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel more so than the fist-bumping jazz piano greats from the generation before him.

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Eubie Blake
Blake was 90 years old at the time of this 1973 Newport appearance but, with his unaccompanied renditions of some of him most famous ragtime pieces, he is able to lift spirits with his upbeat, giddy and invigorating bluesy stride piano playing.

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Dave McKenna
Dave McKenna was a phenomenal stride-influenced pianist who never quite gained widespread recognition. His solo set from the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival featured plenty of his signature “three-handed swing,” full of rampaging bass lines, steady comping chords and fluid bebop runs with his right hand.

[Jazz Messengers & Piano Diplomats is a post in From the Vault - The Wolfgang's Vault blog.]