Charles Mingus - Mingus at Antibes (1979 Japanese Atlantic Gatefold 2LP)

Vinyl: EX/EX
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Charles Mingus - Mingus at Antibes | 2 x Vinyl LP - 1979 Japanese Atlantic (P-5184~85, Warner-Pioneer Corporation)

Mingus had one of the best bands of his career on July 13, 1960. The quintet had Booker Ervin on tenor, Eric Dolphy on alto, Ted Curson on trumpet, Dannie Richmond on drums. No pianist, the harmonic space open, the soloists working against Mingus's bass without a piano voicing to lean on. Recorded by Barclay Studios for Atlantic, it sat largely unreleased until BYG issued a partial version in 1974 and Atlantic released the complete double album in 1979. This Japanese pressing was manufactured by Warner-Pioneer that same year.

"Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" opens the record. Mingus touches the piano himself here, driving the band from two instruments, the 6/4 gospel feel building as the soloists take their turns and the band shouts back. Ervin and Dolphy are both at full stretch. "Prayer for Passive Resistance" is slower and more menacing, Ervin taking the solo feature over the ensemble. "What Love?" runs thirteen minutes, Curson and Mingus open it, Mingus takes a solo, the band develops a dialogue between Dolphy's alto and Mingus's bass that was unlike anything else being played in 1960.

Bud Powell, who had been living in Paris since 1959, walked on for "I'll Remember April." Mingus and Richmond accompany him carefully. The final two pieces give the concert its emotional conclusion. "Folk Forms I" is a stop-and-go blues in F; "Better Git Hit in Your Soul," the Mingus Ah Um piece, closes the night with the same gospel intensity that opened it, Mingus back at the piano and the band working up to a drawn-out finish.