Charles Mingus - The Clown (1976 Japanese Atlantic Mono Reissue Vinyl LP)

Charles Mingus - The Clown | Vinyl LP, 1976 Japanese Atlantic Mono Reissue (P-7509A, Warner-Pioneer Corporation)

• Four Mingus compositions including “Haitian Fight Song”, which opens with one of the most famous unaccompanied bass solos in jazz, and “The Clown”, featuring improvised narration by Jean Shepherd over the band’s free improvisations
• A five-piece Jazz Workshop: Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Curtis Porter (later known as Shafi Hadi) on alto and tenor saxophone, Wade Legge on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums, beginning the partnership that would define Mingus’s rhythm section for the next two decades
• 1976 Japanese mono reissue with obi and 4-page insert, licensed from Atlantic, manufactured by Warner-Pioneer Corporation

“Haitian Fight Song” begins with Mingus alone. He plays an extended bass introduction, building the rhythmic and harmonic foundation of the piece before the band enters, and that solo is one of his most celebrated: fierce, concentrated, and deeply rooted in the blues. Mingus himself described it in the original liner notes as having “a contemporary folk feeling.” The composition became one of his signature pieces and one of the most performed works in his catalogue. “Reincarnation of a Lovebird” is a tribute to Charlie Parker, melodic and tinged with sadness, played in a style that evokes the 1940s without merely imitating it. “Blue Cee” is a blues. “The Clown”, the title track, is something else entirely: Jean Shepherd, the American humorist and radio storyteller (who later wrote A Christmas Story), improvises a narration from a storyline Mingus gave him, telling the tale of a clown who tries desperately to make his audience love him. The band responds to Shepherd’s words in real time, Jimmy Knepper’s trombone leading the free improvisations that paint the story’s emotional landscape.

This was Mingus’s second album for Atlantic, following Pithecanthropus Erectus. Nesuhi Ertegün supervised the recording at Atlantic’s New York studio with Tom Dowd and Larry Hiller engineering. The sessions took place on February 13 and March 12, 1957. It was the first album to feature Dannie Richmond, who became Mingus’s primary drummer from this point until the end of Mingus’s performing career. Nat Hentoff wrote the original liner notes. This 1976 Japanese reissue is a mono pressing manufactured by Warner-Pioneer Corporation, licensed from Atlantic Recording Corporation, in the Pick Up Your Music / Jazz-Forever Excellent series. Comes with a 4-page insert with Japanese liner notes by Akira Yamato and a Mingus discography. Catalogue number P-7509A (original Atlantic catalogue: 1260).