Mingus Revisted

    Charles Mingus and his Orchestra

    (C) 1960 PolyGram (Emarcy 826496-2)

    1. Take The "A" Train (3:34) (Billy Strayhorn)
      Interpolation: Exactly Like You (Hugh-Fields)
    2. Prayer For Passive Resistance (3:49)
    3. Eclipse (3:45)
    4. Mingus Fingus No. 2 (3:22)
    5. Weird Nightmare (3:35)
    6. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me (3:33) (Ellington-Russell)
      Interpolation: I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart (Ellington-Mills-Redmond-Nemo)
    7. Bemoanable Lady (4:32)
    8. Half-Mast Inhibition (8:12)
    Personnel
    • Take The "A" Train, Prayer For Passive Resistance, Eclipse, Weird Nightmare & Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me: Ted Curson (tp); Jimmy Knepper (tb); Joe Farrell, Booker Ervin (sax); Yusef Lateef, Eric Dolphy (fl); Roland Hanna, Paul Bley (p); Charles Mingus (b); Dannie Richmond (perc); Lorraine Cousins (voc on Weird Nightmare and Eclipse)
    • Mingus Fingus No. 2, Bemoanable Lady & Half-Mast Inhibition: Marcus Belgrave, Hobart Dotson, Clark Terry, Ted Curson, Richard Williams (tp); Slide Hampton, Charles Greenlee, Eddie Bert, Jimmy Knepper (tb); Eric Dolphy, John LaPorta, William Barron Jr., Joe Farrell, Yusef Lateef, Danny Bank (saxes); Robert Di Domenica (fl); Harry Shulman (oboe); Don Butterfield (tuba); Roland Hanna (p); Charles Mingus (b); Charles McCracken (cello); Danny Richmond, George Scott, Sticks Evans (perc); Gunther Schuller (cond on Half-Mast Inhibition)
    Date and place
    • Take The "A" Train, Prayer For Passive Resistance, Eclipse, Weird Nightmare & Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me: May 25, 1960, New York City
    • Mingus Fingus No. 2, Bemoanable Lady & Half-Mast Inhibition: May 24, 1960, New York City
    Duration
    35:12
    Originally issued
    as "Pre-Bird" on Mercury SR-60627 in 1961, as "Mingus Revisited" on Limelight LS-86015 in 1965.
    Comments
    Mingus Revisited aka Pre-Bird is one of the legendary Mingus sessions, where the size of the band was increasing rapidly from rehearsals to the actual recording sessions. Producer Leonard Feather wrote about the incident in his book Earwitness To An Era (Part Five, chapter Westward):

    Of all my experiences as a producer, none was more traumatic than the attempt, in 1960, to record an album for Mercury Records with Charles Mingus.

    ... After two days of crisis during which it seemed the album might never be made, I walked into the studio on the date of the session and could hardly believe my eyes. We had a twenty-two-piece orchestra, with Gunther Schuller conducting! Eric Dolphy, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Knepper, Joe Farrell, Booker Ervin, Yusef Lateef and Paul Bley were among the participants. ...