Take the 'A' Train

• Artist: Charles Mingus
• Rating:
• Release Date: May 30, 2006
• Type: Instrumental
• Genre: Jazz

Review

Essentially, this is the complete set of Mingus Revisited and Mercury's Pre-Bird, recorded on May 24 and 25 in 1960. There are five tracks with a tentet that includes Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson, Yusef Lateef, Dannie Richmond, Roland Hanna, Joe Farrell, and Jimmy Knepper, Booker Ervin, and Lorraine Cussen on vocals on "Weird Nightmare" and "Eclipse." There is a big band who recorded on the second day and includes all of the above except for Ervin and Cussen, but adds players like Paul Bley on piano, Bill Barron on saxophone, a full-on trumpet section that features not only Curson but also Marcus Belgrave, Clark Terry, Hobart Dotson, and Richard Williams, and a trombone section with Slide Hampton, Eddie Bert, and Charles "Majid" Greenlee. Other players include flutist Robert Didomenica, alto saxman John LaPorta, Charles McCracken on cello, and a trio of percussionists that features Max Roach on "Half-Mast Inhibition." These strange but wonderful tracks include a beautiful "Take the 'A' Train," that comes right out of "Exactly Like You," and the beautiful "Bemoanable Lady," and the speculative "Prayer for Passive Resistance." This Portuguese issue also features -- confusingly -- a 17-minute version of "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress Then Silk Blue" from 1970 (taken from the album Charles Mingus in Paris) with a band that included Charles McPherson, Jaki Byard, Eddie Preston, Richmond, and Bobby Lee Jones. This is packaged in a slipcase and designed to look something like a Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder disc. It has the look and feel of a pirate, but who knows? ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Take the 'A' Train	Billy Strayhorn	Charles Mingus	(3:32)
Bemoanable Lady		Charles Mingus	(4:20)
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me		Charles Mingus	(3:32)
Mingus Fingus No. 2		Charles Mingus	(3:31)
Eclipse		Charles Mingus	(3:52)
Prayer for Passive Resistance		Charles Mingus	(3:46)
Weird Nightmare		Charles Mingus	(3:33)
Half-Mast Inhibition		Charles Mingus	(8:06)
Orange Was the Color of Her Dress [*]		Charles Mingus	(17:28)

Credits

Booker Ervin (Sax (Tenor)), Max Roach (Percussion), Roland Hanna (Piano), John LaPorta (Clarinet), Jimmy Knepper (Trombone), Eddie Bert (Trombone), William Hogeland (Liner Notes), Roland Hanna (Piano), John LaPorta (Sax (Alto)), Eric Dolphy (Sax (Alto)), Eric Dolphy (Clarinet (Bass)), Robert Didomenica (Flute), Don Butterfield (Tuba), Bobby Lee Jones (Sax (Tenor)), Marcus Belgrave (Trumpet), Clark Terry (Trumpet), Sticks Evans (Percussion), Yusef Lateef (Flute), Hobart Dotson (Trumpet), Slide Hampton (Trombone), Charles "Majeed" Greenlee (Trombone), Charles Mingus (Vocals), Eddie Preston (Trumpet), Lorraine Cousins (Vocals), Richard Gene Williams (Trumpet), Charles Mingus (Bass), Paul Bley (Piano), Dannie Richmond (Drums), Charles McPherson (Sax (Alto)), Charles McCracken (Cello), Jaki Byard (Piano), Ted Curson (Trumpet), Yusef Lateef (Sax (Tenor)), Joe Farrell (Sax (Tenor)), Danny Bank (Sax (Baritone)), Eric Dolphy (Flute), Eric Dolphy (Clarinet)