One of the greatest jazz composers and players of all time, Charles Mingus prepared a year in advance to perform his new compositions at the Monterey Jazz Festival. For reasons still unclear, Mingus only got to perform three pieces, less than 30 minutes of music for what was supposed to be a 90-minute set. It wasn't until two weeks later at UCLA's Royce Hall that he got to play his complete set, which this two-disk set contains. With the exception of the audience that night, the college engineering staff that recorded it, and those lucky enough to obtain the limited edition LPs, this concert has never been heard before, until now. The performance Mingus and his band gave was a record of the struggles he usually went through when he tried to get his music heard. His belief in the art of nonconformity and his skill of improvisation are still unmatched today, and by listening to this CD you can understand why.

As the show opens, Mr. Mingus speaks to the audience and does so throughout the show. He explains, or at least tries to explain, what happened at Monterey weeks earlier and with that introduction "Meditation On Inner Peace" opens up the show. The sound of the lone tuba playing a slow thumping heartbeat rhythm leads the way as the horns weep and moan. To try to explain this piece in words is almost impossible. The best way to describe "Meditation" is it has an almost haunting affect. The track plays for almost eighteen minutes and the tuba is the only consistent sound that keeps what beat there is. The music speeds up near the end, mellows back to the tempo the tuba was keeping, then concludes with final drum crashes and Mingus kicking out key notes from the piano. It ends abruptly because as he explains, "we forgot how to end that one."

This is Charles Mingus and this is how he likes to do things. In between this track and the next, he not only explains to the audience what is going on, he schools his band members too. Unfortunately, when he speaks to the band, he doesn't speak directly into the microphone, so you will have to turn up the volume if you want to hear what he is saying to them. This happens a lot on the first part of the show (CD 1) and is most evident on the next track "Once Upon A Time, There Was A Holding Corporation Called Old America" — yeah that's the full name of the track. Could you see any DJ on the radio now sitting long enough to even announce that?