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The Charlie Mingus Jazz Workshop

Pithecanthropus Erectus

Speakers Corner

Atlantic 1237

LP Black $39
  • 180 gram LP w/ Standard Sleeve
  • Recording: January 1956 at Audio-Video Studios, New York City by Tom Dowd & Hal Lustig in mono

Description

It was a fairly ordinary quintet that entered the Audio-Video Studios in New York City on 30 January 1956: one tenor saxophone, one alto saxophone, a pianist, a drummer and … you guessed: an extraordinary man on the double bass! Not just an instrumentalist, but also an imaginative composer, wayfarer between all kinds of jazz, arranger and enfant terrible.

The Suite “Pithecanthropus Erectus” is – among other things – programme music. Having learned to walk upright, having achieved alleged superiority over animals, and having caused devastation, the destruction of mankind’s natural resources follows. The composer Mingus gives his fellow mankind/musicians the widest possible freedom, which all exploit to the full both in interplay and in the solos. Bedded down in noise and sound collages, the piece is the result of an experimental workshop. The Gershwin classic “A Foggy Day” takes on the role of intermediary...

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Preview Tracklist

  • 1 Pithecanthropus Erectus
  • 2 A Foggy Day
  • 3 Profile of Jackie
  • 4 Love Chant