CHARLES MINGUS At Monterey private 2 LP AVANT FREE JAZZ AVANTGARDE FREEJAZZ BOP

	£		47
	$		62

Charles Mingus gatefold 2 LP set: "Mingus At Monterey" on Charles Mingus Records #JWS 001 JWS 002. Original US pressing with "This album can be purchased only by mail from Charles Mingus" etc. on back cover.
The records are in excellent condition and the cover is in very good condition (split seams).
Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette, Charlie McPherson, John Handy III, Jack Nimitz amongst others at their best.
This LP was offered directly from Charles Mingus, and payment via check was made directly to Charles Mingus. So this rare mailorder only privately released LP is very rare!

Here is a review from the rare Japanese reissue on CD:
One of the highpoints of Charles Mingus's career was his appearance at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival. This long out-of-print double LP contains the entire set: a lengthy Duke Ellington medley, "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress" and a stunning version of "Meditations on Integration" as performed by a 12-piece group featuring such players as altoist Charles McPherson, John Handy (on tenor), trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer and pianist Jaki Byard. This music is well deserving of eventual reissue on CD for it showcases the bassist/composer/bandleader at the peak of his powers. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Here is another review:
The core quintet (sadly under-documented) of this record (Lonnie Hillyer, Charles McPherson, Jackie Byard, Dannie Richmond, and the man himself) played together (with variations depending on availability) from 1964-1970. Mingus named another record with them "My Favorite Quintet". Comparing this to "The Great Concert of Charles Mingus" recorded a few months earlier is instructive as it demonstrates the breadth / adaptability etc. of Mingus' musical personality and how responsive he was to the musicians he was working with. Without Eric Dolphy this music is more mainstream than The Great Concert, but very flexible and free within its chosen context. Charles McPherson (hard to imagine a greater contrast to Eric Dolphy as the lead voice) plays beautifully on "Orange" (for me this is the best realized version of this beautiful song and the masterpiece of this album) and "In a Sentimental Mood". Lonnie Hillyer crackles in contrast to his smoothness. Jaki Byard (so like Mingus in his sense of history) is his usual vituostic and encyclopedic self. The bass playing (particularly the solo "I Got it Bad") is magnificent and, as always, so is Dannie Richmond's drumming. John Handy (subbing for Booker Ervin) contributes a solo on "A Train".
The Orchestral "Meditations" is frantic and reminiscent of other large ensemble works by Mingus (which, sadly, tend to be under-rehearsed). Very powerful, but (not to me) as emotionally effecting as the quintet version from The Great Concert.
This record, The Great Concert, and At Antibes form a triumverate of live documentation that show different facets of Mingus, revealing in different ways the incredible power of his personality coupled with his equally incredible capacity for listening to / responding to the personalities of those in his band. His live records have a very different quality from his (equally magnificent) studio efforts, a spontaneous and flexible relationship to the material that demonstrates a separate exploration of the concept of freedom to the then-prevailing idioms of free jazz. This complexity (fascinating to me) seems to have prevented his getting the acclaim critics lavish on musicians whose products are more uniform and whose work requires less thought to categorize. The aspect that ties Mingus' body of work together is its emotional honesty rather than a particular 'sound' or 'style' and critics and academics don't seem to know how to deal with that. I hope an affordable edition of this comes out soon.

And another review:
If you must have one recording to show the total capabilities of Charles Mingus, this is the one and it's an extravaganza. It's all here: Mingus' extended solos, an excellent, muscular Mingus small group, and finally a large elephantine Mingus orchestra thrashing about in controlled fury over one of his best musical themes. For those of us who had to suffer through the odd musical breaks and the time it took to flip the records over in the original two record set, this CD is 'Mingus Nirvana'.
While other live efforts were sometimes heavily editied and studio efforts had Mingus confined by the time clock, either through solo restrictions or heavy editing, on this recording Mingus was allowed to roam freely over the musical landscape in front of a live crowd. And roam he did. His beautiful bass solos are displayed in their entirety and the band gets lots of solo room.
My favorite small group solos are Charles McPherson's beautifully evocative exposition on "In A Sentimental Mood", Mingus' masterful solo on "I've Got It Bad...", & Jaki Byard's 'piano history' solo on "Take The A Train". Beyond this is the beautiful soaring ensemble playing on "Orange Was The Color...." which gets a falsetto rise out of Mingus,
"Meditations on Integration" is an extended work that is a world unto itself. You may have to reserve time to digest this one all by itself. Wonderful moments are the main orchestral theme, Mingus' drop-dead gorgeous arco bass solos, Byard's heroic pianistics, the interplay between the piano and bass, and a rip-roaring solo by McPherson that simply must be heard to be believed (and seems to be audibly driving Mingus wild). The incredible ensemble playing on "Meditations on Integration" slowly builds to a wild, though scripted, climax that is reminiscent of the multiple mini-climax' at the end of "The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady". It builds to a blazing sonic hurricane and an amazing experience. The well deserved standing ovation at the climax of the piece goes on and on. "Hard to imagine", indeed.
The sound quality is up and down, but don't let that dissuade you from this incredible experience. Five Stars!!

NOTE! Postage indicated in the auction is not the actual postage as ebay doesn't allow a higher postage then 4 GBP in this category. Postage for this item is 8 GBP for most countries within Europe and 15 GBP for the rest of the world. This is up to 2kg, so you can add up to 4 more LP's for the same postage.
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