js Here is a little tip known mostly to record collectors. If you want to get a vinyl copy of Charles Mingus’ “Black Saint and the Sinner Lady” in excellent condition, look for this two record compilation, “Charles Mingus Reevaluation: the Impulse Years”, on the Impulse label of course. That’s right, the entire “Black Saint” album is on here, and like a lot of compilations, the price runs about half of the original album and there is a good chance that the album may not have been played much, which is often the case with comps. Along with the entire Black Saint album, you also get 5 of the 7 songs from “Mingus, Mingus, Mingus”, one of the very best of Charles’ albums as it contains well know classics such as “Better Get it in Your Soul, “Mood Indigo” and “Theme for Lester Young”.

Along with this collection of some of Charles’ very best tracks, you also get two songs with Mingus playing the piano solo and one song that had previously only shown up on an Impulse various artist compilation. The Mingus solo piano tracks are in a slightly older style as Charles draws upon his appreciation For Art Tatum and Duke Ellington, but there is no doubting his talent on the keyboard as he probably could have been a pro piano player if he wasn’t already about the best in the business on bass. The combination of the entire “Black Saint” album and some of the best tracks from “Mingus, Mingus, Mingus” make this about the best Mingus album you can pick up except for “The Great Concert for Charles Mingus”, possibly the best live album in the history of jazz.

js This review is written using the original 3 LP set in a huge foldout gate sleeve cover. If you had to pick the number one top recorded jazz performance known to mankind, you would have a hard time finding one that topped “The Great Concert of Charles Mingus”, a live set that was recorded in Paris in 1964, but not released until the early 70s. It doesn’t hurt that two of the greatest performers of all-time, Mingus and Eric Dolphy, have possibly the best performances of their careers on here, but also the brilliant supporting cast of Jaki Byard, Dannie Richmond and Clifford Jordan are likewise inspired for possible career topping performances as well. Johnny Coles was supposed to be on trumpet, but sickness knocked him off of every performance except the very first cut. This opening cut, by the way, is mis-labeled as “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, when it actually is “So Long Eric”, a better choice for an opening tune anyway.

The concert opens with a nice bluesy groove for the first couple solos, but when Dolphy steps up for his solo, all hell breaks loose and things continue to unravel from there in a rainbow kalediscope of colliding musical ideas. Remaining tracks like “Parkeriana” , “Meditations on Integration” and “Fables of Faubus” feature bizarre complex arrangements that show that both Mingus and Dolphy were very capable modern concert hall composers. When the band is cut loose from the arrangements, they burn with an unprecedented intensity. So much of the music on here pre-dates what is happening in jazz in the early 21st century, such as tonality blended with atonality and compositional structure blended with free blowing. Add to that, something unique to this session, intellectualism blended with emotional fire.

Eric Dolphy is often incorrectly grouped with early 60s “free” players such as Albert Alyer and Archie Shepp. While Dolphy did play free jazz on occasion, and was quite adept at it, this recording is a good example of how Dolphy’s true calling was working with melody and chord changes. Eric’s attempts to take these things to extremes made him more an extension of the Charlie Parker school of music, which is reflected in the mash-up of Parker melodies presented during “Parkeriana”.

If there is one problem with this recording, it would be in Jaki Byard’s volume level, he just sounds a little distant compared to the others, which is a shame because he is a brilliant and under-rated pianist. Byard never really got with the modern minimal sound of Bud Powell and Monk, instead he played more in the old school huge stride based sound of Earl Hines and Art Tatum, which Byard would modernize with atonal clusters of notes and noisy clatter which blended great with the Mingus-Dolphy approach. There is always a lot of mischievous humor to what Jaki serves up as well.

If you ever wonder why jazz fans make a big deal out of Charles Mingus, this record should help you understand why

frankbernardi22 A "classical" jazz record. Even if I should know nothing of that thing called jazz music, I'm sure the right world for all that should be "classical'. Where the adjective don't mean lifeless or frozen or totally and blindly rooted in the past. There is nothing dead in Mingus' "Wonderland" - and that is only one of the names of the record. At the same time covers are different. Very similar the first two, but the third, with a portrait of the Boss with a strange, little bit devilish face? A way to sell more copies? It's with the first graphic solution - we are in 1959 (the famous "Pithecanthropus" was released 3 years before) - that things in the grooves are better explained: Mingus, the pipe, the bass and oil on canvas. We are in an art gallery (Nonagon, NYC): there the record was captured (A. Douglas producer) and the dimension is perfect for 5 players living in the name of love and music, or so it seems. Ervin, Handy, Wyands, Mingus, Richmond. The last one, on drums, has something mildly extravagant and audacious, a mix of Williams and Jones; tenor Ervin and alto Handy seem naturally munificent, while Wyands on piano is a discreet and good friend. In front of the combo, cool and collected comments and handclaps egde the session, while Mingus, placed on right - centre gives musical orders to his men. Go and buy if you hate strange surprises, go the same if you are an intelligent son of nostalgia, and if you want to listen to the spectacular technicolored play of "No private income blues": bass'n'drums melted together to form a perfect wall of sound. Soul, technique, pleasure: it's all timeless, it's surely classic at its peak while sure footed innovation lies in the bends.

js Charles Mingus had many productive years during the first part of his career, but possibly none as productive as 1959. Three of his most acclaimed studio albums come from that year, and maybe that’s why his one live release, “Jazz Portraits“ (also known as “Mingus in Wonderland”), does not get the attention it deserves. “Portraits” may not seem as ambitious as his studio albums, its not a concept album with a unifying theme and an artsy album cover, instead, its just five guys jamming on four tunes, but what they do with those tunes makes this album one of Mingus’ best live dates ever.

“Portraits” opens with the hard bop groove of a Mingus original titled “Nostalgia in Times Square”. Tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin turns in a hot solo, as well as altoist John Handy, and Mingus closes out the solo section with a lengthy exchange between himself and the always inventive percussionist, Dannie Richmond. A cover of “I Can’t Get Started” follows, which Handy covers mostly by himself. Handy’s playing on this one is incredible as he draws on Charlie Parker and hints at the playing Eric Dolphy will soon bring to the band. Handy’s treatment of “Smoke” is sometimes lyrical and passionate, while other times he turns the tune inside out. Its a textbook example of what an inventive artist can do with a well written melody. Mingus also turns in a nice solo on this one.

Third track, “No Private Income Blues”, is a hot jam session that closes with the two saxophonists in an intense battle that merges into a double solo. Their heated exchange and outside lines mirror similar developments from Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra. The album closes with “Alice’s Wonderland”, an excellent Mingus ballad that seems to slightly mirror “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Handy turns in another great solo, as does Mingus too. If you are used to ignoring bass solos, Mingus’ playing on here will change that. He handles the bass like its a small acoustic guitar, playing quick nimble lines with perfect intonation, no doubt Mingus was raising the bar for the bassists in jazz for good.

This album is what so much great jazz is all about, five guys standing on their own without any gimmicks, or the safety net of the studio, and showing how they can transform four tunes into streetwise tone poems. It also helps that the recording quality on “Jazz Portraits” is excellent, every instrument is very clear and well balanced. Mingus’ bass sounds like its right there in the room with you.

js These Real Gone label compilations are very low priced and come in low budget no frills packaging, but despite their cheap appearance, they can contain some great music. I am familiar with two of their compilations, the Quincy Jones one, which is a thorough, expertly arranged collection of Jones’ early big band music, and this one for Charles Mingus, which is not as well considered as the Jones collection, but it is still not bad either. Basically “Charles Mingus Eight Classic Albums” is a look at the early part of Mingus’ career, and it contains some real gems, but there are also some disappointing omissions as well.

As the collection title suggests, you do get eight Mingus albums on here. Two, “The Clown” and “Pithecanthropus Erectus”, are easily available well known classics, and probably already owned by most Mingus fans. The other six are a little more obscure. Two of the albums are from a live concert that was poorly recorded, and features a band that pits Mal Waldron’s outside leaning piano work with a more straight ahead horn section. Its an interesting concert, but probably only interesting to Mingus fans. Three of the albums contain creative high quality hard/post bop and are often overlooked in the Mingus discog, but possibly the most interesting obscurity on here is “Jazzical Moods Part One”, recorded in the very early part of his career when Mingus was more of a 3rd stream composer, and a very good one at that.

You do get some interesting albums on here that are not all that common, but there are some problems. It was great they included “Jazzical Moods Part 1”, but it would have been even better if they had included “Part 2” as well. Also, when arranging the eight albums on to four CDs, they didn’t put the two halves of the same live concert on the same CD! Finally, there are other early Mingus albums they could have put on here in place of the two that are easily available. Still, if you are looking for a way to check out the early part of Charles Mingus’ career, this collection provides a very affordable way to do that.