Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Big Band

Four albums by repertory bands devoted to the music of Charles Mingus, recorded for Soul Note between 1982 and 1988, every piece a Mingus composition. Two are by Mingus Dynasty, first a sextet and then a septet, with trombonist Jimmy Knepper, pianist Roland Hanna and bassist Reggie Johnson on both. The other two document a single concert in Paris by a big band credited on the original covers as Big Band Charlie Mingus, with Sue Mingus as coordinator and supervisor and Knepper conducting.

Reincarnation was taped at Barigozzi Studios in Milan on April 5 to 7, 1982, with trumpeter Richard Williams, Knepper, tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford, Hanna, Johnson and drummer Kenny Washington. Alongside Reincarnation Of A Love Bird it takes on Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting and Jump Monk. Mingus' Sounds Of Love, recorded at Sound Ideas Studios in New York on September 29 and 30, 1987 and directed by Knepper. It brings in Randy Brecker, Craig Handy, James Newton on flute and Dannie Richmond on most tracks, with the long Sue's Changes at its centre. The Paris concert took place at the Théâtre de Boulogne-Billancourt on June 8, 1988, with a band that included Jon Faddis, Clifford Jordan, David Murray, Jaki Byard and drummer Billy Hart. Volume 1, out in 1989, has E's Flat Ah's Flat Too and The Shoes Of The Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers. Volume 2, issued only in 1993, gives almost twenty-five minutes to The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady and ends with Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note, CAM Jazz box BXS 1040 from 2015: four CDs in card replica sleeves, remastered from the original master tapes, reissuing albums first released between 1982 and 1993, with Ecclusiastics added as a bonus track to the first Paris volume.