Charles Mingus: "East Coasting"

Tonight's Jazz Feature is a continuation of this month's tribute to Mr. Mingus. "Charles Mingus Month" is celebrating his 100th Birthday Anniversary. The Feature album is "East Coasting" done in August of 1957 during the time when Mingus was still an "underground" musician and composer. This was a period when the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop (the name he called his bands) had a relatively stable personnel. The same band existed from late 1956 until the end of 1958. The only revolving door was the different pianists. The horns consisted of Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Clarence Shaw on trumpet and Shafi Hadi (aka Curtis Porter) on alto and tenor saxophones and of course mainstay drummer Dannie Richmond. For this recording Mingus called upon a young Bill Evans who came to the date and sight-read his parts and contributed s lot to the success of this recording. Mingus' bass was beautifully recorded and the set was first issued on Bethlehem Records. With the exception of the opening selection "Memories of You" the remaining 5 compositions are all new Mingus creations. The unity of spirit of evident throughout the date and it's one of Mingus' masterpieces. It is tonight's Jazz Feature and well worth your time.