(Post-Bop) Charles Mingus - The Great Concert, Paris 1964 (2CD) - 1991, FLAC (tracks), lossless

The widely heralded European tour by the Charles Mingus Sextet didn't come to a crashing halt because of the sudden collapse of trumpeter Johnny Coles due to a perforated ulcer in the early part of the group's April 17th concert. Mingus simply took a day off to reassign Coles' parts to the other musicians and returned to the stage on the 19th. The bassist had one of his finest bands, with Eric Dolphy (who was to die suddenly in Berlin not long after the tour ended) on bass clarinet, flute, and alto sax; Clifford Jordan on tenor sax; pianist Jaki Byard, and drummer Dannie Richmond. The music within this two-CD set previously appeared as a three-LP set, but there are some changes in this reissue. Although the music is the same, it has been re-sequenced and the fade-outs between record sides have been removed due to the larger music capacity of the CD; although some of the leader's comments to the audience and tuning between numbers have been edited out. The liner notes by the producer of the concert explains that Byard's opening solo of "Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Y-O-U" was omitted due to technical problems with one of the microphones; otherwise, the second concert is complete. What isn't explained is that the opening number, "So Long Eric" (which is still misidentified as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"!), is actually a version edited from both concerts, as Coles is strangely missing from the finale of the piece. This toe-tapping blues is an excellent feature for the vastly underrated (and under-recorded) trumpeter. The most memorable work is Mingus' wide-ranging "Meditations," which serves as an aural portrait of the black man from the terrors of slavery to the turbulence of the 1960s fight for civil rights in the U.S. The opening features a haunting blend of the leader's arco bass and Dolphy's mournful flute; the piece builds in tension as Dolphy switches to his speech-like bass clarinet that evokes screams of anguish. Following potent solos by the rest of the quintet, the song winds up with a stunning finale. A duet performance by Mingus and Byard of Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" allows the audience to cool down a bit. The second half of this set is devoted to originals by the leader. The dissonant combination of tenor sax and bass clarinet is intriguing in "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress," and the humorous "Fables of Faubus" (which musically parodied a racist governor of Arkansas) features outstanding performances as well. But it is "Parkeriana," which incorporates a number of riffs from songs by alto great Charlie Parker, that ranks along with "Meditations" as a highlight of this live set, especially due to Dolphy's fine alto sax solo and Byard's lively piano. Although all tracks but "Sophisticated Lady" are rather long, there is absolutely no filler in this outstanding release, which is one of the most essential recordings by Charles Mingus.