Friday 21 August 2009

Charles Mingus - East Coasting (1958)

1.Memories Of You - Take 7 (4:23)
Composed By - Razaf* , Blake*
2.East Coasting - Take 4 (5:10)
3.West Coast Ghost - Take 6 (10:23)
4.Celia - Take 5 (7:51)
5.Conversation - Take 16 (5:26)
6.Fifty-First Street Blues - Take 4 (5:46)
Bonus Tracks
7.East Coasting (Alternate Take 3) (5:26)
8.Memories Of You (Alternate Take 3) (4:40).

Bass - Charles Mingus
Composed By - Mingus* (tracks: 2 to 6)
Drums - Dannie Richmond
Other [Executive A&r Coordination] - Eddie Levine
Other [Liner Notes] - Joseph F. Laredo
Other [Original Liner Notes] - Nat Hentoff
Other [Reissue Project Coordination Assistant] - Jaclyn Levine
Other [Reissue Project Coordination] - Abbey Anna
Piano - Bill Evans
Remastered By [Compiled & Remastered] - Greg Vaughn , Rick Essig , Tom Moulton
Saxophone [Alto & Tenor] - Shafi Hadi
Trombone - Jimmy Knepper
Trumpet - Clarence Shaw
Notes: Tracks 1 to 6 originally released in 1958 as Bethlehem BCP 6019.
Recorded August 1957 in New York City.
Compiled and remastered at Frankford Wayne Mastering Labs N.Y.
Digitally remastered by Tom Moulton, Rich Essig and Greg Vaughan (Frankford Wayne Mastering Labs, New York, New York).


EAST COASTING is a Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop recording that's a departure from the volatile PITHECANTHROPUS ERECTUS that precedes it. The music is more lyrical than many of his more renowned works, perhaps due in part to the line-up of musicians on this recording, including pianist Bill Evans.
The set begins with the standard "Memories of You," which gets the Mingus treatment, and ends with "Fifty-First Street Blues," which changes in a way the blues usually don't. "Conversation" begins as a ballad and later launches into a blues featuring a fine Bill Evans solo. While EAST COASTING may not be as fervent as either the aforementioned PITHECANTHROPUS ERECTUS, or as colorful as TIJUANA MOODS, it splendidly displays Mingus' full range as a composer whose music is so fueled by emotion that even a ballad has its explosive moments.

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