The Complete Town Hall Concert is a live album by the American jazz musician Charles Mingus released on Blue Note label 1994.Charles Mingus discography accessed November 29, 2012 It was recorded at the Town Hall in New York City in 1962. Some tracks were previously released on the United Artists label in 1962 as Town Hall Concert (not to be confused with the 1964 live album of the same name).Charles Mingus discography accessed November 29, 2012
The concert was 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 and subsequent album being considered a disaster.
Multi-instrumentalist Buddy Collette, who was Mingus' childhood mentor and also present in the orchestra, stated that Mingus and the date's organizer, George Wein, were at odds from the beginning. Wein wanted it to be a concert while Mingus envisioned an open recording session where he would explain to the audience what the musicians were doing. Mingus threatened multiple times to quit during rehearsals as he did not want a concert.Collette, Buddy; Rowe, Monk. "Buddy Collette interviewed by Monk Rowe, Los Angeles, California, February 13, 1999" Hamilton College (Clinton N.Y.). Fillius Jazz Archive
Much of the music intended for the performance was finally realized by conductor Gunther Schuller in a concert in 1989 as Epitaph.
Reception The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "Charles Mingus's Town Hall Concert has long been considered a famous fiasco, and the original United Artists LP (which contained just 36 minutes of music and did not bother identifying the personnel) made matters worse. But this 1994 Blue Note CD does its best to clean up the mess."
The English rock band Radiohead cited The Complete Town Hall Concert as a major influence on their 2000 album Kid A. The songwriter, Thom Yorke, described it as "just fucking chaos... There's this incredible tension and it was the most formative record of the whole time."
Track listing All compositions by Charles Mingus except as indicated "Freedom Part 1" - 3:47 "Freedom Part 2" - 3:14 "Osmotin'" - 2:50 Bonus track on CD reissue "Epitaph Part 1" - 7:03 "Peggy's Blue Skylight" - 5:21 Bonus track on CD reissue "Epitaph Part 2" - 5:10 "My Search" - 8:09 "Portrait" - 4:34 Bonus track on CD reissue "Duke's Choice" - 5:12 "Please Don't Come Back from the Moon" - 7:24 Bonus track on CD reissue "In a Mellow Tone" (Duke Ellington, Milt Gabler) - 8:21 "Epitaph Part 1" [alternate take] - 7:23 Bonus track on CD reissue
Personnel Charles Mingus - bass, narration 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 saxophone George Berg, Zoot Sims - tenor saxophone Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson - baritone saxophone Warren Smith - vibraphone, percussion Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jaki Byard – piano Les Spann - guitar Milt Hinton - bass Dannie Richmond - drums Grady Tate - percussion Bob Hammer, Gene Roland - arranger Melba Liston - arranger, conductor
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