EAST COASTING

Also available in a 3-pack with JAZZ EXPERIMENTS OF CHARLES MINGUS and A MODERN JAZZ SYMPOSIUM OF MUSIC AND POETRY. Personnel: Charles Mingus (bass); Shafi Hadi (alto & tenor saxophones); Clarence Shaw (trumpet); Jimmy Knepper (trombone); Bill Evans (piano); Dannie Richmond (drums). Recorded in New York, New York in August 1957. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff and Joseph F. Laredo. 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.