Charles Mingus

INCLUDES FREE MP3 ALBUM DOWNLOAD

PLUS 1 BONUS TRACK

PERSONNEL:

On Side A & B5-B6:
CHARLES MINGUS, bass & leader
JOHN LaPORTA, clarinet & alto sax
TEO MACERO, tenor sax
GEORGE BARROW, tenor & baritone sax
MAL WALDRON, piano
RUDY NICHOLS, drums
Hackensack, New Jersey, October 31, 1954.

On B1-B4:
CHARLES MINGUS, bass
TEO MACERO, tenor sax
WALLY CIRILLO, piano
KENNY CLARKE, drums
New York, January 30, 1955.

SIDE A:
1 PURPLE HEART (Charles Mingus) 5:36
2 GREGARIAN CHANT (Charles Mingus) 2:51
3 EULOGY FOR RUDY WILLIAMS (Charles Mingus) 6:22
4 TEA FOR TWO (Vincent Youmans-Irving Caesar) 6:19

SIDE B:
1 SMOG L.A. (Wally Cirillo) 3:10
2 LEVEL SEVEN (Wally Cirillo) 4:15
3 TRANSEASON [aka TRANSOCEAN] (Wally Cirillo) 4:19
4 ROSE GERANIUM (Wally Cirillo)4:09
5 GETTING TOGETHER (Charles Mingus) 4:41
6 BODY AND SOUL (Edward Heyman-Robert Sour-Frank Eyton-
Johnny Green) 3:07*

*BONUS TRACK: From the same sessions. Not on the original LP.

By the mid-50s, Charles Mingus had formed his own publishing and recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music. He also founded the “Jazz Workshop,” a group which enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings. This album contains some of its initial formations. Mingus put together the Jazz Composers Workshop in 1954, which yielded four 10-inch albums, two for Savoy and two for Period. One of the Savoy ones (MG-15055) was credited to pianist Wally Cirillo instead of Mingus. This album only contained four tracks by Cirillo and Mingus while the rest featured the music of pianist Bobby Scott (all four Mingus sides are included here). The other Savoy LP was called The Moods of Mingus (MG-15050) and marks the second album released under Mingus’s name. A year later it was re-released as a 12-inch LP, combining the Mingus material from both 10-inch LPs, as Jazz Composers Workshop (MG-12059). The material –five tracks– from The Moods of Mingus was performed by a sextet with John LaPorta on clarinet and alto sax, Teo Macero on tenor & baritone saxes, George Barrow on baritone & tenor saxes, Mal Waldron on piano, Mingus on bass and Rudy Nichols on drums. The band was recorded on October 31, 1954. On the four tracks nominally led by Cirillo the group was pared down to a quartet with Teo Macero on tenor sax, Cirillo on piano, Mingus on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. They were recorded three months later, on January 30, 1955.