The 80th Birthday Concert is a live album by George Russell released on the Concept

Concept Records

Concept Records is a small UK-based independent record label headquartered in London.The company was founded in 1999 by former A&R man for Jive Records and Warner Bros. Records Max Bloom...

 label in 2005, featuring a performance by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 2003. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 awarded the album 3½ stars and states "The 80th Birthday Concert, a two-CD set, stands as one of his finest recordings and sums up much of his career... it is the sound of the passionate ensembles, the very original writing, and the spirit of the musicians and the ageless Russell that makes this a highly recommended set".

Track listing

All compositions by George Russell except as indicated

1. "Listen to the Silence" - 6:07
2. Announcement - 0:27
3. "Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature" - 28:52
4. "The African Game" - 40:44
5. "It's About Time" - 12:19
6. "So What
   So What (composition)
   "So What" is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.-History:"So What" is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian...
   
   " (Miles Davis
   Miles Davis
   Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
   
   ) - 17:36

Personnel

• George Russell - conductor
  Conducting
  Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
  
  , arranger
  Arrangement
  The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
  
  
• Stuart Brooks, Stanton Davis
  Stanton Davis
  Stanton Davis, Jr. is an American jazz trumpeter and educator.Davis studied at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory , and served as program director for MIT's radio station from 1968-74. He received his master's in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 1983...
  
  , Palle Mikkelborg
  Palle Mikkelborg
  Palle Mikkelborg , is a Danish jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger and record producer. He started playing professionally in 1960, and has since been a dominant figure on the Danish and international progressive jazz scene...
  
   - trumpet
• Dave Bargeron
  Dave Bargeron
  David 'Dave' W Bargeron is an American trombonist and tuba player from Athol, Massachusetts, most famous for playing with the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat, and Tears. He joined the group in 1970, after Jerry Hyman departed, and first appeared on the album Blood, Sweat & Tears 4...
  
   - trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  
• Richard Henry - bass trombone
• Chris Biscoe
  Chris Biscoe
  Chris Biscoe is an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, a player of the alto, soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, the alto clarinet, piccolo and flute...
  
   - alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  
• Andy Sheppard
  Andy Sheppard
  Andy Sheppard is a British jazz saxophonist and composer. He has been awarded several prizes at the British Jazz Awards, and has worked with some notable figures in contemporary jazz, including Gil Evans, Carla Bley, George Russell and Steve Swallow.-Biography:Sheppard was born in Warminster,...
  
   - tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
  
• Pete Hurt - baritone saxophone
  Baritone saxophone
  The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
  
  , bass clarinet
  Bass clarinet
  The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
  
  
• Hiro Honshuku - flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  , electronics
  Electronics
  Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
  
  
• Brad Hatfield, Steve Lodder
  Steve Lodder
  Steve Lodder, born Stephen John Lodder, , is a British keyboardist, composer, and organist. He played piano as a child and took up organ at age 14...
  
   - keyboards
• Bill Urmson - Fender bass
  Fender Jazz Bass
  The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...
  
  
• Mike Walker
  Mike Walker (jazz guitarist)
  Mike Walker , is a jazz guitar player from Salford, England. Walker has played and recorded with George Russell, Peter Erskine, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor and performed with Dave Holland, Tal Farlow, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell and many others.-Biography:Mike Walker was initially...
  
   - guitar
• Richie Morales - drums
• Pat Hollenbeck - percussion