Charles Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus / 45RPM 2LP Analogue Productions

Bassist Charles Mingus was considered an unpleasant genius during his lifetime. No one doubted his skills on the bass and his even more far-reaching genius as an arranger, but his talent for picking a

fight not only with his fellow players but right away with the audience of a live concert kept many people at a distance. When all conditions were finally to his satisfaction, as on this 1963 recording,

the results were indeed fantastic.

The album basically contains variations of his own and others' works, and thus could pass for boring and featureless if Mingus had just not exercised his genius as an arranger to transfer the new interpretations

far beyond the originals into works in their own right. The band was not only well cast, but also quite large:

Charles Mingus - bass, piano, vocals
Jay Berliner - guitar
Don Butterfield - trombone, tuba
Jaki Byard - piano
Eric Dolphy - flute, alto saxophone
Rolf Ericson - trumpet
Booker Ervin - tenor saxophone
Dick Hafer - clarinet, flute, oboe, tenor saxophone
Quentin Jackson - trombone
Charlie Mariano - alto saxophone
Walter Perkins - drums
Eddie Preston - trumpet
Jerome Richardson - flute, bartion saxophone, soprano saxophone
Dannie Richmond - drums
Richard Gene Williams - trumpet
Britt Woodman - trombone

Title

Side A

1. II B.S.

2. I X Love

Side B

1. Celia

Side C

1. Mood Indigo

2. Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul

Side D

1. Theme For Lester Young

2. Hora Decubitus