Charles Mingus's Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings

The standup bass genius and jazz force of nature Charles Mingus made his first album for Atlantic Records, Pithecanthropus Erectus, in 1956. Several of his most memorable musical masterpieces, including The Clown (1957), Blues and Roots (1960), and Oh Yeah (1962), followed as he intermittently returned to the label throughout the 1960s and early '70s.

- ROBERT BAIRD

Beginning in 1974 with Mingus Moves, the cigarillo chomping, famously gruff Mingus recorded most of his final albums for the label as he progressed from composer/player to wheelchair-bound writer and musical director. His final seven studio albums for the label and a single LP of outtakes, all freshly remastered,¹ comprise this welcome 8-LP (or 7-CD) box-set addition to the Mingus oeuvre.

While remasterings can brighten sound and bring out heretofore unheard details, the differences here between originals and these new 180gm LPs (pressed at Optimal in Germany) are minor. That's fine; the recording quality of the original pressings was stellar, the first three engineered by Gene Paul. The LPs were sourced from digital master files. John Webber cut the lacquers at AIR Studios London.

One of jazz music's most convincing visionaries, Mingus was grounded in blues and church music, but was also a huge admirer of Duke Ellington. While both men wrote and played for ensembles small and large, it's their sweeping, dramatic creations that distinguish them most as composers. Both leaders liked surrounding themselves with strong-willed players and distinct musical personalities. Often overshadowed by the brilliance of their writing, Ellington and Mingus were instrumental virtuosos. One key difference: Within that foundation, Mingus was wilder, encompassing complex improvisation even in his larger ensembles.