Newly Discovered Clifford Jordan Live Album “Let It Ring” Coming RSD Black Friday

Breaking news to your phone. US mobile only. No password required.

Broadway + NYC

Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Off Broadway

Cabaret

Dance

Opera

Classical Music

West End / UK

International

Canada

Australia / New Zealand

Europe

Asia

Latin America

Africa / Middle East

Entertainment

Ctrl + K to open · Esc to close

The limited-edition 180-gram vinyl captures the first bandstand meeting of the four jazz musicians, with liner notes by Ted Panken.

Most Popular

Get all the top news & discounts for Music & beyond. No password required.

Resonance Records presents Clifford Jordan: Let It Ring: Live at the Jazz Showcase, a newly unearthed 1976 recording capturing the first-ever bandstand encounter between Jordan, Al Haig, Wilbur Ware and Kenny Clarke.

Get all the top news & discounts for Music & beyond.

The limited edition, 180-gram 2-LP package has extensive liner notes by Ted Panken including interviews he did with Jordan and Ware the week of the gig. Released in cooperation with the Clifford Jordan Estate and produced by noted 'Jazz Detective' Zev Feldman with assistance from co-producer Michael Velasco, associate producer Zak Shelby-Szyszko, and Wayne Segal, the never-before heard vinyl will be available exclusively for RSD Black Friday on November 27 with CD and digital download editions available on December 4.

The performance was put together by legendary Chicago promoter Joe Segal when he learned that Clarke – who had visited the U.S. only once since moving to France in 1976 – and Haig would perform in Chicago at a tribute concert for Dizzy Gillespie .

Only Joe Segal could have conceived and presented the extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime quartet that performed during the first week of October 1976 at the Jazz Showcase that Resonance Records documents on Let It Ring: Clifford Jordan, Live at the Jazz Showcase. The 14-track performance, culled from the first two nights of the engagement, captures the first-ever bandstand encounter between four legendary figures in the music and the city. The performance brings together two Chicago icons – the luminous tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan (1931-1993) and sui generis bassist Wilbur Ware (1923-1979) – with a pair of bebop pioneers – Al Haig (1922-1982), Charlie Parker 's first-call pianist, and Kenny Clarke (1914-1986), the father of modern drum expression. Fifty years later, the interplay between four of the most individualistic practitioners who ever played their respective instruments while learning each other's musical moves sounds as fresh, spontaneous, and emotionally transparent as it did to the audience that packed the low-ceilinged basement of the Happy Medium disco during that epochal week.

Released by Resonance Records in cooperation with the Clifford Jordan Estate and produced by noted 'Jazz Detective' Zev Feldman with assistance from co-producer Michael Velasco, associate producer Zak Shelby-Szyszko, and Wayne Segal, Joe Segal's son, Let It Ring comes in a limited-edition, deluxe 180-gram 2-LP package with new, extensive liner notes written by Ted Panken that includes excerpts from interviews that he conducted with Jordan and Ware during the week of the gig. The vinyl set comes out on November 27, 2026, with the CD and digital downloads to follow on December 4, 2026.

Joe Segal (1926-2020), who started presenting jam sessions around Chicago in 1947, knew more than most about how to organize a band. A staunch believer in the mantra 'bebop is the future,' he possessed the hard-earned intuition to anticipate which combinations of master improvisers would facilitate creative interplay; the infrastructure and logistical chops to provide them with a viable platform; and the grit and stamina to do whatever was needed to actualize his musical dreams. Which is why, when Segal learned that Clarke – who had visited the U.S. only once since moving to France in 1976 – and Haig would perform in Chicago at a tribute concert for Dizzy Gillespie , he did not hesitate to commit this inspired 'crime of opportunity.'

Restored and mastered from the original cassette tapes at Resonance Records Studios by engineer and Resonance founder George Klabin and Michael Velasco, with LP mastering by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab in Salina, KS, and pressed at Quebec's boutique audiophile pressing plant Le Vinylist, the sound is vivid and present.

In an interview with liner note author Ted Panken towards the end of the week, Clifford Jordan spoke enthusiastically about what had already transpired on the Jazz Showcase bandstand. 'It's amazing,' Jordan said. 'I'm fascinated every night. It's a good experience for me to play with Kenny Clarke, and compare what I'm doing with what he's doing, and try to listen to us both at the same time. Also, it's my first time playing with Al Haig. I've been playing with Wilbur Ware for a long time. He's always been startling and has a strong bass line. You can't chain Wilbur down to play any particular way, just as I can't be chained down to play any particular way. I'm sure it's the same with Al Haig and Kenny Clarke. So, in actuality, when you listen to this group, there's four different things going on. We're all playing the same tune, but everybody's playing it their way, and it still works out into one.'

'Music is a social thing,' Jordan added. 'You play whatever you have around you. The most important thing about improvisation is to make the music fit. All the pieces have to fit together like a puzzle, so it sounds like one thing. This is the way I think when I play.'

Producer and Resonance co-president Zev Feldman says, 'Clifford Jordan's music is deeply rooted in bebop, but he had his own personal perspectives on it. With the passage of time it's gratifying to see that the world is now catching up, realizing Jordan's greatness and appreciating just how incredible he was. Here at Resonance, we are proud to work with Wayne Segal, who now owns the Jazz Showcase, to celebrate the memory of one of jazz's greatest impresarios, Wayne's father, Joe. I'm very lucky to have known Joe over the course of many years. Whenever I'd come to Chicago, I would try to get together with him; he always knew I was looking for material to release. In 2011, I began to work with him, delving into his archives and going over his collection of extraordinary tapes. Now, 15 years later, here we are, releasing gems from his archive, which forms an incredible historical record of jazz music.'

From the aural evidence, it's reasonable to extrapolate that Kenny Clarke, Al Haig and Wilbur Ware shared that perspective as a default basis of operations. Throughout the proceedings, they hew to the credo that Ware expressed when Panken interviewed him on the same day. 'Every individual is his own man; he's got to have his own creed,' Ware told Panken. 'I used to play on Jimmy Blanton's style, but I was me — I'd hear something a different way and I'd have to play it my way. It's up to the individual. That's what music is about for anybody. If you're a young musician, you might play some of the things your idol does, but you can't go through life playing his style. Where you at if you have no style of your own?'

Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY Award-winning label (including John Coltrane's Offering: Live at Temple University for 'Best Album Notes') that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance's catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. www.ResonanceRecords.org

Nominate your favorite local productions and performers before the deadline on October 31, 2026.

U2 and Third Man Records Release Exclusive CARNAVAL DE LUZ Vinyl Edition

Brandi Carlile to Launch BURN THE SETLIST Tour Fall 2026

Bring Me The Horizon to Join SLIPKNOT Stadium Tour July-August 2027

AJ McLean to Extend THE BETTER MAN TOUR Into February

Also text me

When are you seeing ?

Get an Alert Each Time Rachel Stone Writes

BroadwayWorld TV

Breaking Broadway news and show discounts. No password required.

Breaking Broadway news on your phone. US mobile numbers only.

POPULAR

Sign up for announcements and exclusive discounts on tickets to your favorite shows!

© 2026 — Copyright Wisdom Digital Media , all rights reserved. Privacy Policy

Episode

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/Clifford-Jordan-LET-IT-RING-LP-to-Release-on-RSD-Black-Friday-20261006)._