For the first time released as a single unit, this 3 disc set has long unavailable broadcasts of Charles Mingus when he was at the apotheosis of his talents. To put the collection into discographic perspective, Mingus had recently released Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, Mingus!, Tonight At Noon, and Tijuana Moods was finally being taken off the shelves and put out in circulation. The band itself, always in transition as with the leader’s volatile moods, included Jimmy Knepper/tb, Yusef Lateef/fl, Rahsaan Roland Kirk/ts-etc, Booker Ervin/ts, Charles McPherson/as, Pepper Adams/bs, Richard Williams-Edard Armour/tp, Jaki Byard-Toshiko Akiyoshi/p, Henry Grimes-Doug Watkins-Herman Wright/b and the cornerstone Danny Richmond/dr, with Mingus usually playing bass, but also on piano with Watkins holding down the chair for a wild “Hog Callin’ Blues,” frenetic “Nouroog” and throbbing “Ecclusiastics.” The May and March 1962 broadcasts have Booker Ervin and Charles McPherson tearing through “Monk, Funk Or Vice Versa” (which is essentially “Well, You Needn’t”) and a white knuckler of the rarely heard “Ysabel’s Table Dance” without any drum accompaniment. WHEW!
Jaki Byard is at the piano along with Pepper Adams, Don Butterfield/tb , McPherson and Edward Armor, and the thick feel predicts the textures of Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus on “”Please Don’t Come Back From The Moon” while “O.P” and “The Search (I Can’t Get Started)” give hint to his East Coasting days. This collection is chock full of material rarely heard in a concert setting, and the versions are simply unforgettable. The sound quality is surprisingly good, and as always, Mingus sounds like he had something to prove. Search this one down; it’s released by the Spain-based label Solar Records through the Jazz Messenger web site below.