Ricky Ford - Manhattan Plaza [new LP rip}

An old friend has requested this and in the course of doing a new rip, I've discovered that I have an exceptionally good copy! After a little aggressive cleaning...a damn near perfect record! On top of that it really is an enjoyable album.

Ricky Ford - Manhattan Plaza
Muse 5188, 1978, Vinyl LP
Bass – David Friesen, Drums – Dannie Richmond, Trumpet – Oliver Beener, Piano – Jaki Byard, Saxophone [Tenor] – Ricky Ford
Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder, Producer – Richard Seidel

A1 Fadism
A2 Afternoon In New York
A3 Diane's Melody
A4 Ceal's Place
B1 On The Plaza
B2 If You Could See Me Now
B3 Olean Visit

Manhattan Plaza isn't just the name of an album, it refers to an apartment building in Manhattan, not far from Birdland and the Greenwich Village Jazz clubs. It features subsidized housing in a moderately luxurious building for musicians and artists. Mingus lived there (Sue Mingus still does), members of the Mingus band and the Ellington band (Ford qualifies on both counts) have long lived there, and of course Ricky Ford lives there. Sienfeld creator Larry David used to live there and the building community had a major influence in the developement of the show, in particular the character Kramer who was apparently modeled on a neighbor at Manhattan Plaza. Others residents include or have included Dexter Gordon, Jack Walrath, Mike LeDonne, Ray Mantilla, Woody Shaw and many more. The attraction for the musicians is the the rent is a scaled 30% of income no matter what that might be; helps the musicians through the lean times, helps the building when times are good. Are you beginning to see why Ricky named his first Muse date after the place?

The album is a fine straight ahead hard bop session featuring Mingus band mates Jaki Byard and Dannie Richmond, a relatively unknown then Dave Friesen on bass and obscure trumpeter and fellow Manhattan Plaza resident Oscar Beener. Aside from Tad Dameron's If You Could See Me Now, all the tunes are originals from either Ford or Jaki Byard, who plays a strong part in the album. This was the first of ten excellent albums that Ricky did for Muse that still represent some of his strongest work. Somehow the level of success one would have expected from this strong start has never quite materialized..