Charles Mingus: Stuttgart Meditations auf 2 CDs

Charles Mingus was not only a bass virtuoso, but probably the greatest bass playing leader the world has ever known. Although strongly influenced by Duke Ellington in his early years, he was a true pioneer in jazz, and by the mid-fifties was at the avant-garde of the jazz world where he was soon playing alongside Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Duke Ellington himself. By 1964, when this live album was recorded, Mingus was at his most creative and prolific, releasing over 30 albums over the course of the decade. Soon after the release of his sprawling masterpiece, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, called "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history", Mingus put together one of his most influential ensembles, a sextet featuring Johnny Coles, Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Jaki Byard and Danny Richmond and undertook an extensive European tour. This tour, although marked by great live recordings such as this one in Stuttgart, was also unfortunately marred by tragedy as Coles fell ill and Dolphy died while in Berlin just two months later.