In 1972, Charles Mingus undertook a European tour. It started in July,
shortly after participating in Newport In New York Jazz Festival which
put Mingus and Cat Anderson on the same stage together.
The
Mingus Quintet for the first round of the European tour were Jon Faddis
(tp) Charles McPherson (as) Bobby Jones (ts) John Foster (p) Charles
Mingus (b) and Roy Brooks (d). They can be heard
here, from a concert in the Netherlands.
The band in Nice, France, with guest star Dizzy Gillespie
After
a series of concerts, which lasted until August, Jon Faddis and Charles
McPherson left the band and Mingus had to form a new group for the
second round of the European concerts, starting towards the end of the year in Germany, Poland and Spain. Gene Santoro (
Myself when I am real: the life and music of Charles Mingus) reflects on Mingus's choices for his new quintet:
"He kept thinking about updating Harry Carney's baritone sound, the
deep-toned Ellingtonian mix he'd always loved. A young baritone man
recommended by Paul Jeffrey, Hamiet Bluiett, came down to the club and
got the nod, along with trumpeter Joe Gardner. And Cat Anderson,
Ellington's last high-note trumpeter, took a break from his intense
schedule of studio work to hit the road. Bluiett doubled on clarinet,
and could do the raucous, old-timey pieces Mingus always loved to play
with loving parody, as living history tableaux. An avant-gardist with
leanings toward blues and free form, Bluiett also felt the exuberant
pull of traditional jazz from early New Orleans, like other free-jazz
artists. Mingus was their avatar, overtly straddling jazz history from
before Duke to after himself."
