Charlie Mingus was one of my first discoveries when I've started to listen to jazz music many years ago, and since my first exposure to his music I remained faithful to him.
If I take a look at his career, I think in the late 50's and early 60's he was at the peak of his career. Nothing he recorded in his later period of time can be compared to his achievements during these 5-7 years. His recordings for Atlantic and Columbia are my favorites. But we can't ignore also two other great sessions: Tijuana Moods and East Coasting. Mingus himself said that Tijuana Moods is his best recording ever. In the same year of Tijuana Moods, Mingus recorded another great session, lesser known: East Coasting. It featured most of the same musicians as on Tijuana Moods: trombonist Jimmy Knepper, saxophonist Shafi Hadi, trumpeter Clarence Shaw, and drummer Dannie Richmond. At the piano was sitting this time Bill Evans instead of Bill Triglia. Playing with Mingus was Evans’ last stop before joining Miles Davis for the classic Kind of Blue. His ability to fit into Mingus’ compositions and the various moods they create here displays another side of Evans' musical personality and shows how gifted he was. I think Mingus always knew how to utilize the gifts of musicians and how to deal with all kind of influences including the music of Duke Ellington, gospel, blues, traditional jazz of New Orleans and even the music of JS Bach. Mingus has a unique ability to make a sextet sound like a complete big band and this album demonstrate this ability almost in each of the tunes the sextet plays. If I have to pick one specific highlight of this album in addition to Evans' playing, I would probably say that it is the amazing solo Knepper plays on "Memories of You" but all the sextet members are doing a perfect job. Also "West Coast Ghost" is a beautiful composition with an impressive trumpet playing (sounds a bit muted) by Clarence Shaw. Mingus' compositions and playing are always fueled by his emotions and for this reason it is always a great pleasure for me to listen to him.
In my humble opinion this is one of Mingus' best recordings, not less than Tijuana Moods. It was neglected over the years just because it surfaced in the shadow of Tijuana. I think it took too long for Bethlehem to reissue it on CD but eventually they did.
If you consider yourselves as Mingus fans, and I'm sure you do, you must have this album in your collection. And if you have it already, please give it a listen and let me know your thoughts.