Charles Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Verve Acoustic Sounds Series) 180g LP

TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal

Mingus's second Impulse! album, released in 1963, was another large-ensemble masterpiece featuring two of the bassist/bandleader's greatest compositions - "Celia" and "Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul" - plus a famous version of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo".

Steve Huey of AllMusic writes, "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus is sort of a 'greatest hits revisited' record, as the bassist revamps or tinkers with some of his best-known works. The titles are altered as well - 'II B.S.' is basically 'Haitian Fight Song' (this is the version used in the late-'90s car commercial); 'Theme for Lester Young' is 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'; 'Better Get Hit in Your Soul' adds a new ending, but just one letter to the title; 'Hora Decubitus' is a growling overhaul of 'E's Flat Ah's Flat Too'; and 'I X Love' modifies 'Nouroog,' which was part of 'Open Letter to Duke.' There's also a cover of Duke Ellington's 'Mood Indigo,' leaving just one new composition, 'Celia.'"

Seeking to offer definitive audiophile grade versions of some of the most historic and best jazz records ever recorded, Verve Label Group and Universal Music Enterprises' audiophile Acoustic Sounds vinyl reissue series utilizes the skills of top mastering engineers and the unsurpassed production craft of Quality Record Pressings. All titles are mastered from the original analog tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged by Stoughton Printing Co. in high-quality gatefold sleeves with tip-on jackets.

With the ostensible shortage of ideas, what exactly makes this a significant Mingus effort? The answer is that the 11-piece bands assembled here (slightly different for the two separate recording sessions) are among Mingus' finest, featuring some of the key personnel (Eric Dolphy, pianist Jaki Byard) that would make up the legendary quintet/sextet with which Mingus toured Europe in 1964. And they simply burn, blasting through versions that equal and often surpass the originals - which is, of course, no small feat. This was Mingus' last major statement for quite some time, and aside from a solo piano album and a series of live recordings from the 1964 tour, also his last album until 1970. It closes out the most productive and significant chapter of his career, and one of the most fertile, inventive hot streaks of any composer in jazz history.