Tonight at Noon
Despite the scattered recording history of the five tracks that comprise this album (two separate sessions - one from 1957, the other four years later - were used), the result is pretty cohesive. It took another three years before the actual album was released in 1964. Mingus and his steady backing crew (the same musicians that supported him on the eminentThe ClownandOh Yeah,respectively) chart some rarely explored stylistic territory. The later date features the more refined, and characteristic, songs of the bunch; the 1957 session races around Eurocentric rhythms for a feeling of rushed exuberance. It's hardcore jazz at its most celebratory, with master Mingus up front leading the charge.