The Complete Town Hall Concert by Charles Mingus

Recorded at Town Hall IN nyc on October 12, 1962.

The Complete Town Hall Concert by Charles Mingus, recorded at The Town Hall in New York City and first released on the United Artists label in 1962 as Town Hall Concert. The album was rereleased with additional tracks on the Blue Note label in 1994 as The Complete Town Hall Concert.

The concert was originally conceived as a "live workshop" of newly composed music which would be recorded for release by United Artists, but rescheduling, lack of rehearsal time, poor sound, and interruptions led to the event being considered a disaster by many and Mingus himself, though the subsequent album showed the evening as far more successful than previously conceived.

Much of the music Mingus intended for the concert/recording was finally presented in a concert in 1989 produced by Sue Mingus and conducted by Gunther Schuller. Mingus knew even before Town Hall that this would never be performed in his lifetime, so he had called it Epitaph, declaring that it was written "for my tombstone."

October 12, 1962

All compositions by Charles Mingus except as indicated

"Freedom Part 1"
"Freedom Part 2"
"Osmotin"
"Epitaph Part 1"
"Peggy's Blue Skylight"
"Epitaph Part 2"
"My Search"
"Portrait"
"Duke's Choice"
"Please Don't Come Back from the Moon"
"In a Mellow Tone" (Duke Ellington, Milt Gabler)
"Epitaph" - Alternate Take

Ed Armour, Rolf Ericson, Lonnie Hillyer, Ernie Royal, Clark Terry, Richard Williams, Snooky Young, trumpet; Eddie Bert, Jimmy Cleveland, Willie Dennis, Paul Faulise, Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, trombone; Romeo Penque, oboe; Danny Bank, bass clarinet; Buddy Collette, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Mariano, Charles McPherson, alto sax; George Berg, Zoot Sims, tenor sax; Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson, baritone sax; Warren Smith, vibes, percussion; Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jaki Byard, piano; Les Spann, guitar; Milt Hinton, bass; Charles Mingus, bass, narrator; Dannie Richmond, drums; Grady Tate, percussion; Bob Hammer, arranger; Melba Liston, arranger, conductor.