1 Wham Bam

2 Opus Four

3 Celia

4 Bird Calls

5 Meditations

6 Prayer For Passive Ressistance

7 Free Cell Block F

8 Ecclusiastics

Copyright © – Sue Mingus Music

  • Alto Saxophone – Abraham Burton

  • Alto Saxophone, Flute – Craig Handy

  • Baritone Saxophone – Ronnie Cuber

  • Bass – Kenny Davis

  • Bass Trombone, Tuba – Earl McIntyre

  • Composed By – Charles Mingus

  • Drums – Johnathan Blake

  • Edited By [Editing Assistance] – Boris Kozlov

  • Mixed By, Mastered By – Tom Swift

  • Piano – Dave Kikoski*

  • Producer – Sue Mingus

  • Recorded By – Kiichi Goto

  • Tenor Saxophone – Seamus Blake, Wayne Escoffery

  • Trombone – Conrad Herwig

  • Trombone, Vocals – Ku-umba Frank Lacy*

  • Trumpet – Alex Sipiagin, Eddie Henderson, Jack Walrath

  • Mingus Big Band Live at Tokyo spans generations of Mingus compositions and still manages to combine the unique personalities of the performers and art of the moment with the timelessness of these compositions.

  • Live in Tokyo at the Blue Note, 2005 showcases the exhilarating Mingus Big Band launching into newly arranged compositions from the Mingus songbook at a New Year's Eve concert at the Blue Note. Continuing the Mingus tradition of great difficulty yielding great rewards, the last-minute replacement of new father and bassist Boris Koslov (who was to debut two new arrangements) with Kenny Davis (who had never played with the band, and who stepped in seamlessly), is testament not only to the musicians' talents, but to the strength of the music itself.

  • The 14-piece big band - comprising trumpeters Eddie Henderson, Jack Walrath and Alex Sipiagin; saxophonists Abraham Burton, Craig Handy, Wayne Escoffery, Seamus Blake, and Ronnie Cuber; trombonists Ku-umba Frank Lacy, Conrad Herwig and Earl McIntyre; pianist Dave Kikoski; bassist Kenny Davis; and drummer Johnathan Blake - buoyantly give new voice to such Mingus classics as "Meditations" and "Ecclusiastics," from the '60s, "Opus 4" and "Free Cell Block 8" from the early '70s, and such early '50s-era tunes as "Celia," "Bird Calls" and "Wham Bam," which opens the CD with characteristic Mingus Big Band explosive energy.

  • When talking about the legacy band's weekly New York club dates, Sue commented that her husband would have "given his eye teeth to compose for musicians of this caliber week after week, though he rarely had the opportunity to work with such a large group."