LPH 017 - Charles Mingus - Weird Nightmare + Other Tales (1954-73)

[Lucky Psychic Hut, 2010; #017]


tracklist:

VOLUME 1

1. Purple Heart
Charles Mingus Sextet
John LaPorta (cl, as) Teo Macero (ts, bars) George Barrow (bars, ts) Mal Waldron (p) Charles Mingus (b) Rudy Nichols (d)
NYC, October 31, 1954
LP: Jazz Composers Workshop, #2 (Savoy, #MG 12059)

2. Jump Monk
3. Work Song
Charles Mingus Quintet
Eddie Bert (tb) George Barrow (ts) Mal Waldron (p) Charles Mingus (b) Willie Jones (d)
"Cafe Bohemia", NYC, December 23, 1955
LP: Mingus at the Bohemia (Debut, #DEB 123)

4. Pithecanthropus Erectus: Evolution / Superiority-Complex / Decline / Destruction
Charles Mingus Quintet
Jackie McLean (as) J.R. Monterose (ts) Mal Waldron (p) Charles Mingus (b) Willie Jones (d)
Audio-Video Studios, NYC, January 30, 1956
LP: Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic, #LP 1237/SD 8809)

5. Tonight at Noon
6. Reincarnation of a Lovebird
7. Haitian Fight Song
Charles Mingus Quintet
Jimmy Knepper (tb) Shafi Hadi (as) Wade Legge (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d)
NYC, March 13, 1957
#5 - LP: Tonight at Noon (Atlantic, #LP 1416/SD 1416)
#6+7 - LP: The Clown (Atlantic, #LP 1260)

8. Open Letter to Duke
Charles Mingus Septet
Willie Dennis (tb) John Handy (as, cl) Booker Ervin (ts) Curtis Porter (ts, as) Horace Parlan (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d)
NYC, May 12, 1959
LP: Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, #CS 8171)



VOLUME 2

1. Self-Portrait in Three Colors
same as on 1/8

2. Gunslinging Bird or If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats
Charles Mingus Tentet
Richard Williams (tp) Jimmy Knepper (tb) Jerome Richardson (fl, bars) John Handy (as) Booker Ervin, Benny Golson (ts) Teddy Charles (vib) Roland Hanna (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d, timp)
NYC, November 1, 1959
LP: Mingus Dynasty (Columbia, #CS 8236)

3. Weird Nightmare
4. Eclipse
Charles Mingus Nonet
Ted Curson (tp) Jimmy Knepper (tb) Eric Dolphy (as, bcl, fl) Booker Ervin, Joe Farrell (ts) Yusef Lateef (ts, fl) Paul Bley (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d) Lorraine Cousins (vo)
NYC, May 25, 1960
LP: Pre-Bird (Mercury, #MG 20627/SR 60627)

5. Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me
Charles Mingus Sextet
Jimmy Knepper (tb) Booker Ervin (ts) Roland Kirk (ts, mzo, str, siren, fl) Charles Mingus (p, vo, nar) Doug Watkins (b) Dannie Richmond (d)
NYC, November 6, 1961
LP: Mingus - Oh, Yeah! (Atlantic, #LP 1377/SD 1377)

6. Freedom
Charles Mingus Orchestra
Eddie Preston, Richard Williams (tp) Britt Woodman (tb) Don Butterfield (tu) Dick Hafer (fl, cl, ts) Jerome Richardson (fl, ss, bars) Eric Dolphy (as, fl) Booker Ervin (ts) Jaki Byard (p) Charles Mingus (b, nar) Walter Perkins (d)
NYC, September 20, 1963
LP: Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse, #IMPD 170)

7. Meditations on Integration
Charles Mingus Quintet
Eric Dolphy (as, bcl, fl) Clifford Jordan (ts) Jaki Byard (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d)
"Theatre Des Champs-Elysees", Paris, France, April 18, 1964
2CD: Revenge! (Revenge, #32002)

8. The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife are Some Jive Ass Slippers
Charles Mingus Orchestra
Lonnie Hillyer, Jimmy Nottingham, Joe Wilder, Snooky Young (tp) Jimmy Knepper (tb) Julius Watkins (frh) Charles McPherson (as) Jerry Dodgion, Bobby Jones, Hal McKusick, James Moody (reeds) Jaki Byard, John Foster, Roland Hanna (p) Charles McCracken (cello) Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Milt Hinton (b) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d) Teo Macero (cond, as) and others
NYC, September 23, 1971
LP: Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia, #KC 31039)

9. Canon
Charles Mingus Quintet
Ronald Hampton (tp, tamb) George Adams (ts, fl) Don Pullen (p, org) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d) Honey Gordon, Sy Johnson (arr)
NYC, October 29-31, 1973
LP: Mingus Moves (Atlantic, #SD 1653)


total time: 123'10


All compositions by Charles Mingus (1922-79).


Weirded by Lucky, following the compositions that were used for Hal Willner's Mingus-tribute of the same name. Most session info taken from the Mingus entry at the Jazz Discography Project.
Cover photo by Teppei Inoguchi, taken from the Official Charles Mingus homepage.
Dedicated to Hal Willner and his projects dedicated to Nino Rota, Thelonious Monk, Kurt Weill, Walt Disney etc.

'... Oh damn it all blues. Screwed to the melting frozen walk of dared-to-embrace stone, concrete hard, imagined soft only to overdue erections of loneliness that turned feminine and speaks back wet, warm tears, not too far removed from it's common denominator, iced urine melting at dared hot death that clings to life for love at thought of some response, be it only the clay, dirt or pavement I behold in my drunked fevered search for a true woman's groin, wanting me as I want her, to never hate me because we found refuge of satisfaction as two drunken stones warmed themselves side by side, in outside our guttered ideas of opposite sides fucking.' Do you understand that poem, Doctor Wallach?"

"Well, Charles, it certainly is a very personal expression.""

(excerpts from Charles Mingus' autobiography "Beneath the Underdog: His World as composed by Mingus", publ. 1971; served as preface for the booklet to Hal Willner's CD "Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus")