Charles Mingus

On October 12, 1962, Mingus achieved a long-sought dream: a concert at New York’s Town Hall with a thirty-piece orchestra composed of seven trumpets, six trombones, four alto saxes, two tenor saxes, two baritone saxes, oboe,   contrabass clarinet, two pianos, guitar, bass (Milt Hinton played bass while Mingus conducted), drums, vibes, and additional percussion from a three-man percussion section. However, the occasion resulted in one of Mingus' most controversial performances ever. The centerpiece of the concert is "Epitaph Part 1". Mingus had the following to say about the tune: "The music was all one suite...but we had different copyists, so for their purposes I marked off the score in sections, Parts 1, 2 and 3." The concert was issued as Charles Mingus –Town Hall Concert on United Artists UAJ14024, and is filled with plenty of unique and occasionally transcendental musical moments.

PERSONNEL:

CHARLES MINGUS bass & leader, with:

Clark Terry, Ernie Royal, Snooky Young, Richard Williams, Rolf Ericson, Ed Armour, Lonnie Hillyer (tp),
Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson, Willie Dennis, Eddie Bert, Jimmy Cleveland, Paul Faulise (tb)
Don Butterfield (tu), Danny Bank (contrabass-cl), Romeo Penque (oboe)
Eric Dolphy, Charlie Mariano, Charles McPherson, Buddy Collette (as)
Zoot Sims, George Berg (ts), Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson (bar), Warren Smith (vib, perc),
Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jaki Byard (p), Les Spann (g), Milt Hinton (b), Dannie Richmond (d), Grady Tate (perc).

Arrangements by Melba Liston, Bob Hammer & Gene Roland.
Town Hall, New York, October 12, 1962.
Original recordings produced by Alan Douglas and George Wein.

SIDE A:
01 FREEDOM Part 1 3:47
02 FREEDOM Part 2 [aka CLARK IN THE DARK] 3:14
03 OSMOTIN’ 2:50
04 EPITAPH Part 1 7:03
05 EPITAPH Part 2 5:10

SIDE B:
01 MY SEARCH 8:09
02 PORTRAIT 4:34
03 DUKE’S CHOICE [originally issued as DON’T COME BACK] 5:12
04 IN A MELLOW TONE [originally issued as FINALE] 8:21
All compositions by CHARLES MINGUS
Except “In a Mellow Tone” (Duke Ellington-George Duke-Milt Gabler)