Charles Mingus - Trio - 2 x 180g Vinyl LPs

2022 reissue

April 2022 - use "Notify Me" if you want a copy

Remastered & Expanded Anniversary Edition.
Includes An Entire Extra Disc Of Previously Unreleased Outtakes From The London Parlophone Vaults.

Charles Mingus's musical legacy is still ongoing. From artists like Kamasi Washington bringing him to a new generation, Chrissie Hynde, whose latest album includes a Mingus cover, Candace Springs, Elvis Costello, to Gang Starr sampling him, and Joni Mitchell writing lyrics to his music.

The greatest bassist leader jazz has ever known, Charles Mingus, with his spirited playing and spontaneity, always kept his ears and fingers on the pulse. "Mingus was something else, man," Miles Davis wrote in his own book. "A pure genius, I loved him."

Recorded in one day, with pianist Hampton Hawes, a childhood friend of Mingus who'd been in bands with Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon, and drummer Danny Richmond, whose association with the bassist lasted over two decades, and originally released in 1957 on the Jubilee label, this remastered and expanded anniversary edition includes a whole extra disc of never-released outtakes only discovered by chance in the London Parlophone vaults - a miraculous find in jazz history.

This release coincides with Charles Mingus's centenary, which includes a number of celebrations from the Mingus Big Band's world tour, starting at Ronnie Scott's in London, and headlining the New Orleans Jazz Festival, to educational activities and much, much more.

Features

    Charles Mingus Centenary Deluxe Edition
    Remastered
    180g Vinyl - Double LP
    Extra Disc of Previously Unreleased Outtakes from the London Parlophone Vaults
    New Liner Notes by Charles Mingus Friend & Colleague Sy Johnson

Most often heard in large ensembles and rarely in a trio context, Charles Mingus joined forces with pianist Hampton Hawes for this 1957 studio date. It features four standards, two originals by the bassist, and a jam by the group credited to Hawes. While there's nothing particularly arresting or startling about the date, the relationship between the two ostensible co-leaders is a good case study in group dynamics when deference between two strong-willed individualists turns into a certain amount of compromise.

Drummer Danny Richmond is not so much the peacemaker or even mediator, and he is the one with the most common sense who actually pulls this triad into a simpatico unit, cooling the embers with his steady, willful-in-its-own-right playing. As complex as the music of Mingus tends to be, it's nice to hear what he does in a more simplified area. His "Back Home Blues" is so basic as his bass leads out, while the Mingus chart "Dizzy Moods" is deeper within an easier swing, allowing darker colors to fully but slowly blossom. Richmond favors the tambourine on "Dizzy Moods" and the hip "A Night in Tunisia"-styled take of "Summertime," while a faster "Hamp's New Blues" bops along effortlessly, chided by the drummer's accents.

Hawes shines in his gilded, rearranged concept of "Yesterdays," intentionally messing up the changes for the first few bars before settling in, while slowing the Vernon Duke evergreen "I Can't Get Started" (always a personal staple of the Mingus book) to a crawl. The most intriguing selection comes at the end, as "Laura" sounds derived from "Tea for Two," with the hardy upright of Mingus sallying forth about this imaginary woman made real through this poignant song. Some six years later, Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Max Roach would record the controversial trio effort Money Jungle, so in many ways this album is a prelude to that all-star combination, both one-shots and definitely sidebars to the careers of all of these brilliant jazzmen.

Michael G. Nastos