I ignored Charles Mingus for many years, preferring to head for the saxophone playing superstars alongside the biggest names like Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. That was a mistake.
Charles Mingus was never “just a bass player” or even just a “great bass player”. He’s probably my favourite composer and band leader and below there are a series of brilliant live albums with 1964 being a particularly good year.
Live albums include:
1955 The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach
1955 Charles Mingus at the Bohemia
1959 Charles Mingus In Wonderland
1960 At Antibes
1962 The Complete Town Hall Concert
1964 Town Hall Concert
1964 The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus
1964 Right Now Live at the Jazz Workshop
1964 Revenge The Legendary Paris Concert
1964 Mingus at Monterey
1964 Cornell
1964 Complete Live in Amsterdam
1964 Mingus In Europe
1965 My Favorite Quintet
1965 Music Written for Monterey
1972 Mingus and Friends in Concert
1974 At Carnegie Hall
As a sidesman, he appeared on the following:
1951 Miles Davis Birdland
1953 The Quintet Jazz At Massey Hall
1953 Charlie Parker Complete Bird at The Open Door
What are the best live albums by Charles Mingus?
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What Are The Best Live Jazz Albums Of All Time?
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Right Now Live at the Jazz Workshop is a live album by Charles Mingus.
It was recorded in San Francisco on June 2 & 3, 1964.
Playing on the album are:
Clifford Jordan – tenor sax
Jane Getz – piano
Charles Mingus – bass
Danny Richmond – drums
John Handy guest stars on track 1 and plays the alto saxophone.
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The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach is a live album.
It was recorded at the Cafe Bohemia in New York on 23 December 1955.
Another live album, Live At The Bohemia also comes from this concert. This is the more traditional jazz whilst Live At The Bohemia sees Mingus stretching the boundaries.
Playing on the album are:
George Barrow — tenor sax
Eddie Bert — trombone
Mal Waldron — piano
Charles Mingus — bass
Willie Jones — drums
Max Roach — drums
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The Complete Town Hall Concert is a live album by Charles Mingus and a large band.
It was recorded at The Town Hall in New York City on October 12, 1962. The album was originally released as Town Hall Concert in 1962 and then reissued in 1994 with extra tracks as The Complete Town Hall Concert.
The album has suffered from a poor reputation as Mingus and his band were playing previously unrecorded music.
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Jazz Portraits: Mingus In Wonderland is a live album by the Charles Mingus Quintet.
It was recorded at the Nonagon Art Gallery in New York City on January 16, 1959.
Playing on the album are:
John Handy – alto saxophone
Booker Ervin – tenor saxophone
Richard Wyands – piano
Charles Mingus – bass
Danny Richmond – drums
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The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus is a live recording by the Charles Mingus Quintet.
It was recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France on April 19, 1964.
Playing on the album are:
Eric Dolphy – Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute
Clifford Jordan – Tenor Saxophone
Jaki Byard – Piano
Charles Mingus – Bass
Dannie Richmond – Drums
Johnny Coles guest starred on trumpet on So Long Eric.
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Mingus At Antibes is a live album by Charles Mingus.
It was recorded at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France on the 13 July 1960 and it was finally released in 1976.
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Jazz At Massey Hall is a live album by The Quintet. It is a recording of the concert at Massey Hall in Toronto 15 May 1953.
This begs the question “who are the Quintet?”
Just possibly the greatest assembly of jazz talent ever put together on one stage… Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
I understand that this was the last time that Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker ever recorded together because of bad feelings between them.
An extended recorded version of this concert has also been released with 14 songs but half of them don’t include Parker and Gillespie. The purist in me thinks that you should go straight for the longer concert but it’s live Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie that attracts me.
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