Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

The Complete Town Hall Concert

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Recorded
  
October 12, 1962

Release date
  
1994

Genre
  
Jazz

Artist
  
Charles Mingus

Label
  
EMI

The Complete Town Hall Concert httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen88eThe

Released
  
1962 1994 CD reissue with bonus tracks

The Complete Town Hall Concert (1962)
  
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)

Similar
  
Charles Mingus albums, Jazz albums

The Complete Town Hall Concert is a live album by American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus recorded at The Town Hall in New York City and first released on the United Artists label in 1962 as Town Hall Concert. The album was rereleased with additional tracks on the Blue Note label in 1994 as The Complete Town Hall Concert.

Contents

The concert was originally conceived as a "live workshop" of newly composed music which would be recorded for release by United Artists but rescheduling, lack of rehearsal time, poor sound and interruptions led to the event and subsequent album being considered a disaster. Much of the music intended for the concert/recording was finally realized by conductor Gunther Schuller in a concert in 1989 as Epitaph.

Reception

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and stated, "Charles Mingus's Town Hall Concert has long been considered a famous fiasco, and the original United Artists LP (which contained just 36 minutes of music and did not bother identifying the personnel) made matters worse. But this 1994 Blue Note CD does its best to clean up the mess".

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Mingus except as indicated

  1. "Freedom Part 1" - 3:47
  2. "Freedom Part 2" - 3:14
  3. "Osmotin'" - 2:50 Bonus track on CD reissue
  4. "Epitaph Part 1" - 7:03
  5. "Peggy's Blue Skylight" - 5:21 Bonus track on CD reissue
  6. "Epitaph Part 2" - 5:10
  7. "My Search" - 8:09
  8. "Portrait" - 4:34 Bonus track on CD reissue
  9. "Duke's Choice" - 5:12
  10. "Please Don't Come Back from the Moon" - 7:24 Bonus track on CD reissue
  11. "In a Mellow Tone" (Duke Ellington, Milt Gabler) - 8:21
  12. "Epitaph Part 1" [alternate take] - 7:23 Bonus track on CD reissue

Personnel

  • Charles Mingus - bass, narration
  • Ed Armour, Rolf Ericson, Lonnie Hillyer, Ernie Royal, Clark Terry, Richard Williams, Snooky Young - trumpet
  • Eddie Bert, Jimmy Cleveland, Willie Dennis, Paul Faulise, Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman - trombone
  • Romeo Penque - oboe
  • Danny Bank - bass clarinet
  • Buddy Collette, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Mariano, Charles McPherson - alto saxophone
  • George Berg, Zoot Sims - tenor saxophone
  • Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson - baritone saxophone
  • Warren Smith - vibraphone, percussion
  • Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jaki Byard – piano
  • Les Spann - guitar
  • Milt Hinton - bass
  • Dannie Richmond - drums
  • Grady Tate - percussion
  • Bob Hammer - arranger
  • Melba Liston - arranger, conductor

    • Songs

    1Freedom - Part One3:48
    2Freedom - Part Two (aka Clark in the Dark)3:15
    3Osmotin'2:50

    References

    The Complete Town Hall Concert Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA