Charles Mingus - Changes- The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings (7 CD, 2023) [FLAC]

Charles Mingus is the most important American jazz composer after Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. As part of the ongoing celebration of Mingus’ centennial, Rhino will release a new boxed set that spotlights the creative resurgence that defined the final phase of the legendary bassist and composer’s career.

The set brings together newly remastered versions of all seven studio albums Mingus recorded for Atlantic in the 1970s. The LP and CD versions include Mingus Moves (1973), Changes One (1974), Changes Two (1974), Three or Four Shades of Blues (1977), Cumbia & Jazz Fusion (1977), Me, Myself an Eye (1979), and Something Like a Bird (1979). The collection also features previously unreleased session outtakes.. 

 

Charles Mingus - The Complete Columbia & RCA Albums Collection (10 CD, 2012/FLAC)

 The ten-disc 2012 Charles Mingus anthology The Complete Columbia & RCA Albums Collection brings together all of the legendary bassist's albums recorded for Columbia and RCA from the '50s to the '70s. Included here are 1959's Mingus Dynasty, 1959's Mingus Ah Um, 1962's Tijuana Moods, 1972's Let My Children Hear Music, and 1972's Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert. Also featured is Gunther Schuller's 1989 recording of the lengthy, 130-minute Mingus composition released in 1990 as Epitaph. There are also three discs of alternate takes from the various releases. 

 

The Quintet (Charlie Chan, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie) - Jazz At massey Hall (1956-2004/FLAC)

Bop pioneers Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell,and Max Roach are on fire in this performance given in 1953. Parker is listed as "Charlie Chan" due to his contract with his record label.

 Recorded live at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada; May 15, 1953.

• Alto Saxophone – Charlie Chan
• Bass – Charlie Mingus
• Drums – Max Roach
• Piano – Bud Powell
• Trumpet – Dizzy Gillespie

01. Perdido (7:43)

02. Salt Peanuts (7:40)

03. All The Things You Are / 52nd Street Theme (7:51)

04. Wee (A.K.A. Allen's Alley) (6:42)

05. Hot House (9:11)

06. A Night In Tunisia (7:34)

Charles Mingus - The Complete Debut Recordings [12 CD, 1990]

 

This mammoth 12-CD box set may not contain Charles Mingus' most significant recordings (those would take place shortly after these sessions), but there is a remarkable amount of exciting and somewhat innovative music in this reissue of all of the dates recorded for Mingus' Debut label. There are duets and trios with pianist Spaulding Givens, a variety of odd third stream originals (some with vocalist Jackie Paris and altoist Lee Konitz), the famous Massey Hall concert with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie (heard in two versions, one with Mingus' overdubbed bass), a four-trombone date with J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green, and Willie Dennis, trio sets with pianists Paul Bley, Hazel Scott, and the obscure John Dennis, a quintet with trumpeter Thad Jones and Frank Wess on tenor and flute, Miles Davis' "Alone Together" session, a date led by trombonist Jimmy Knepper, a completely unissued 1957 sextet session, and -- most importantly -- a greatly expanded live session with trombonist Eddie Bert and tenor saxophonist George Barrow that found Mingus finally finding himself musically. Many of these performances are now also available in smaller sets, but this attractive box (which has 64 previously unissued tracks among the 169 selections) is the best way to acquire this valuable music.

Charles Mingus - Minor Intrusion (Quadromania, 4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 

This comprises four discs: Shuffle Bass Boogie, a haphazard collection of very early Mingus as a Bebop/Big Band leader from 1946-49 of some historical interest, the important and early Third Stream outing of Jazzical Moods from 1954 – quite essential for fans –; and two discs with 1960 recordings from the Candid label: one is the fantastic compilation Lock 'Em Up (comprising the entire 1961 album Mingus plus additional tracks), and the other is 1960 album Presents Charles Mingus.

 

Charles Mingus - The Complete Columbia Recordings (3 CD, 1998/FLAC)

 

Mercurial bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus was signed to Columbia Records for the briefest of time during 1959. His Columbia recordings, however, remain some of the most inspired, mood-jumping jazz in history. This three-CD collection fattens the original LPs, Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty, along with 10 tracks in their original, unedited form. The third CD includes six alternate takes from the sessions, one of them previously unissued altogether. These songs nail why Mingus is possibly the most relevant jazzer for the '90s generation. They're either foot-stomping in intensity or poignantly yearning with their lyrical tapestry of orchestral colors. Nowhere will you find better, more flowing jazz statements than the sad "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" or in the blasting "Boogie Stop Shuffle" 

Charles Mingus - A Kind of Mingus [10 CD, 2009]

 Bassist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Charles Mingus cut himself a uniquely iconoclastic path through jazz in the middle of the 20th century, creating a musical and cultural legacy that became universally lauded. As an instrumentalist he had few peers -- he was blessed with a powerful tone and pulsating sense of rhythm, capable of elevating the instrument into the frontline of a band. Intensely ambitious yet often earthy in expression, simultaneously politically radical and deeply traditional spiritually, Mingus' music took elements from everything he had experienced -- from gospel and blues, New Orleans jazz, swing, bop, Latin music, modern classical music, and even the jazz avant-garde, and adapted it for ensembles ranging from trios and quartets to sextets and orchestras. 

Charles Mingus - The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65 [7 CD, 2012]

 

"Charles Mingus - The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65 (Town Hall, Amsterdam, Monterey '64, Monterey '65 & Minneapolis)" - It chronicles the essential live performances of this genius of modern music as his compositions achieved a depth and complexity we would come to know as Mingus's most signature work. It includes (on the earlier recordings) the brilliant Eric Dolphy, along with Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond, Johnny Coles, and Clifford Jordan -- certainly one of the best assemblages of musicians ever. And the music, recorded across the world's concert stages and intended for release by Charles Mingus Enterprises, dashes once and for all every previously-held notion about what is, and isn't, jazz.