The European Tour of April 1964

In April 1964 Mingus went to Europe with one of his greatest bands featuring Eric Dolphy on alto sax, bass clarinet and flute, Johnny Coles on trumpet, Clifford Jordan on tenor sax, Jaki Byard on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums. Part of the repertoire was first "rehearsed" in front of the Town Hall audience in New York before the band left the United States to play their first concert in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. After a week of touring the sextet was suddenly reduced to quintet when Coles collapsed on stage during the performance of 'So Long Eric' on April 17 in Paris.

This part of the discography is primarily based on Arjan Koning's original version and Lindenmaier/Salewski's Mingus discography (1983) with all corrections given in JazzRealities magazines 1-10 till summer 1989 (information provided by Gerd Fink, thanks!) This has been complemented and corrected by the information received from the contributors to this discography. I'm going to check the concerts I've on CD very carefully for edits and correct timings. The timings represent the length of the actual performance without applauses, introductions or other speeches - from the very first note to the very last decay of an instrument. The second length is the timing given by the CD player. I haven't used liner notes timings at all, because they're usually unreliable.

You might also want to visit the following pages:

Late Dolphy part of Alan Saul's Eric Dolphy Discography
The Charles Mingus Tour of April 1964 by Arjan Koning

Due to varying naming practices for certain compositions ('Meditations' and 'Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress', for example), I've basically sticked to the most common and shortest names for clarity. Here are some of the alternate titles and variations you may encounter:

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat: So Long Eric is sometimes mistitled as 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat', as in case of "The Great Concert, Paris 1964" on Musidisc and "Paris 1964, Vol 2" on Le Jazz
Meditations: Meditations For A Pair Of Wire Cutters
Meditations On Integration
Meditations For Intergration
Praying With Eric
Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress: Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue
Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk
Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Silk Blue
Parkeriana: Ow
Dedicated To A Genius

April 4 Town Hall, NYC, USA	Praying With Eric	17:48	a
	So Long Eric	27:31	a
	Sophisticated Lady		unissued
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress		unissued
	A.T.F.W.Y.O.U.U.S.A.		unissued
	a) Jazz Workshop OJCCD-042-2
April 10 Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands	Parkeriana (Ow)	20:42	a,c
	So Long Eric	21:42	a,c
	AT FW USA	4:00	a,c,d
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	13:47	a,c
	Meditations	22:50	b,c
	Fables Of Faubus	30:45	b,d
	Sophisticated Lady	5:25	b,d
	a) Ulysse AROC CD 1001 b) Ulysse AROC CD 1002 c) Ulysse AROC LP 50506/507 (2LP) d) Ulysse AROC LP 50608 (LP)
April 11 Hilversum, The Netherlands	no further details
April 12 Oslo, Norway	So Long Eric	22:20	a,b
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	14:10/14:17	a,b,c
	Parkeriana (false depart)	2:35	a,b
	Take The "A" Train	12:46	a*,b
	Meditations	19:18/19:25	d
	Parkeriana	18:28/18:38	d
	Fables Of Faubus	27:37/27:43	c
	Notes: *) a faded-out version of 'Take The "A" Train' (9:42) a) JazzUp JU-307 b) VIDJAZZ 15 (video) or KJazz KJ 127 (video) c) Landscape LS2-913 d) Landscape LS2-919
April 13 (first concert) Stockholm, Sweden	Peggy's Blue Skylight	10:44/11:06	a,b
	When Irish Eyes Are Smiling	11:00/11:35?	a
	Fables Of Faubus	17:09/17:40	a,b,c(?)
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress*	12:42/12:59	a,b
	How sizes China from Mississippi
	So Long Eric
	Notes: *) Lindenmaier/Salewski's length is 16:30, but assuming that the Bandstand is from Stockholm, the correct timings are listed above a) Royal Jazz RJD 518 b) Bandstand BDCD 1524 c) Frequenz 044-011
April 13 (second concert) Stockholm, Sweden	So Long Eric (take 1)	2:38	a
	Meditations (false depart)	2:06*	a
	Meditations	16:40	a
	So Long Eric	7:20/6:54?	a, b(?)
	Notes: *) 0:33 according to Lindenmaier/Salewski a) Royal Jazz RJD 518 b) Frequenz 044-011
April 14 Old Fellow Palaet's Store Sal, Copenhagen, Denmark	So Long Eric	28:15
	A.T.F.W.Y.O.U.U.S.A.*	4:00/4:13	b
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	14:13/14:18	b
	Fables Of Faubus	33:34/34:11	a,b
	Parkeriana	24:48
	Meditations	22:19/22:29	a,b,c
	Notes: *) Byard only a) Moon MCD 016-2 b) Landscape LS2-905 c) Bandstand BDCD 1524
April 16 Bremen, Germany	AT FW USA*	4:24	a,d
	Sophisticated Lady	3:45	a,d,e(?)
	Meditations	24:45	c
	Fables Of Faubus	33:00	b
	Parkeriana	21:15	c
	So Long Eric	25:00	a
	Notes: *) Byard only a) Ingo ten (LP) b) Ingo thirteen (LP) c) Ingo fifteen (LP) d) Unique Jazz UJ23 (LP) e) Frequenz 044-011
April 17 Salle Wagram, Paris, France	Sophisticated Lady	3:20	f
	So Long Eric*	28:23/28:51	b,d,e
	Meditations	22:30	a,c,e
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	11:35	a,e
	Fables Of Faubus	24:53	a,c,e
	Parkeriana	24:04/24:12	b,d,e
	Peggy's Blue Skylight	12:50	a,c,e
	Notes: 'Fables Of Faubus' is edited from the full length of 35:00 (according to Lindenmaier/Salewski) The timings for 'So Long Eric' and 'Parkeriana' come from d (they're wrong in liner notes) *) During this performance of 'So Long Eric', Johnny Coles collapsed due to a perforated gastric ulcer; he was hospitalized at the American Clinic at Neuilly, France, for the remainder of the Charles Mingus European Tour 1964, Musidisc 500072 MU 763 and America AM 003-004-005 (3LP) contain an edited version of 'So Long Eric' (see April 19 for more information), 'So Long Eric' is mistitled 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' on d and e a) Le Jazz CD 19 b) Le Jazz CD 38 c) France's Concert FCD 102 d) France's Concert FCD 110 e) Revenge 32002 f) France's Concert FC 102 (LP)
April 19 Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France	Sophisticated Lady	5:52/6:12	a,b
	Fables Of Faubus	27:30/27:47	a,b
	Parkeriana	23:25/23:35	a,b
	Meditations	21:47/23:04	a,b*
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	14:05/16:00	a
	So Long Eric (edited)	5:40	b
	I Can't Get Started		unissued
	Notes: The concert started 0.10 a.m. and ended 2.45 a.m. (according to Musidisc liner notes) - therefore this is under April 19, not April 18 *) 'Meditations' lasts 27:30 on America 3LP-set 'So Long Eric' (23:21/27:10) on Musidisc (mistitled 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat'), which features Coles, is actually an edited version from Salle Wagram and it fades in the end of Dolphy's alto sax solo before Richmond's drum solo. 'Sophisticated Lady' is a duet featuring Byard and Mingus Johnny Coles did not play in this concert, although some of the liner notes claim otherwise a) Musidisc 500072 MU 763 b) America AM 003-004-005 (3LP)
April 19 Palais de Congres, Liege, Belgium	So Long Eric	5:45	a
	Peggy's Blue Skylight	6:59	a
	Meditations	24:27	a
	a) RTB(B)-radio/tv-recording
April 20 Marseille, France	So Long Eric		a
	Parkeriana		a
	Meditations		a
	a) ORTF(F)-tv-broadcast
April 21 Lyon, France	no further details
April 22 Limmathaus, Zurich, Switzerland	no further details
April 23 Biel-Bienne, Switzerland	AT FW USA
	So Long Eric
	Fables Of Faubus

April 24 Bologna, Italy	no further details
April 25 Milano, Italy	no further details
April 26 Town Hall, Wuppertal, Germany	AT FW USA	5:09	b
	Fables Of Faubus	36:12/37:36	a
	Starting	4:55/5:27	a
	Peggy's Blue Skylight	11:32	b
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	17:00	b
	Sophisticated Lady	3:44	b
	So Long Eric	22:51	b
	Meditations	21:36/22:24	a
	Note: 'Starting' (aka 'I Can't Get Started') is a duet featuring Mingus and Dolphy a) Enja CD-3049-45 b) Enja R2 79612 or Enja CD 3077-38
April 27 Frankfurt, Germany	no further details
April 28 Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Germany	A.T.F.W.Y.O.U.U.S.A.*	3:45/4:15	a,c
	Fables Of Faubus	40:07	a,c
	Sophisticated Lady	3:55/4:01	a,c
	Peggy's Blue Skylight	19:04	b
	Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress	16:00	b
	So Long Eric	29:16	b
	Meditations	28:12	b
	These Foolish Things	3:00	b
	Notes: *) Jaki Byard piano solo a) Unique Jazz UJ009 (LP) b) Unique Jazz UJ007/008 (2LP) c) Unique Jazz RKO1038 (CD)
April 29 Hamburg, Germany	no further details

Bandstand BDCD 1524	Meditations On Integration
Enja CD 3049-45 Enja R2 79612	Mingus In Europe, Volume One Mingus In Europe, Vol. 2
France's Concert FCD 102 France's Concert FCD 110	Meditation Vol. 2: Live In Paris, 1964
Frequenz 044-011	Charles Mingus
Ingo ten Ingo thirteen Ingo fifteen	"Hope so Eric" Vol. 1 "Fables of Faubus" Vol. 2 "Parkeriana" Vol. 3
JazzUp JU-307	Live in Oslo 1964 featuring Eric Dolphy
Jazz Time 64036-2	Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Jazz Workshop OJCCD-042-2	Town Hall Concert
KJazz KJ 127	Charles Mingus Sextet (video)
Landscape LS2-905 Landscape LS2-913 Landscape LS2-919	Live In Copenhagen 1964 Live In Oslo - Vol. 1 Live In Oslo - Vol. 2
Le Jazz CD 19 Le Jazz CD 38	Paris 1964 Paris 1964, Vol 2
Moon MCD 016-2	Astral Weeks
Musidisc 500072 MU 763	The Great Concert, Paris 1964
Revenge 32002	Revenge!
Royal Jazz RJD 518	Live In Stockholm 1964
Ulysse AROC CD 1001 Ulysse AROC CD 1002	Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vol. 1 Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vol. 2
Unique Jazz 007-009 Unique Jazz UJ23 Unique Jazz RKO1038	Mingus In Stuttgart Mingus Sextet Live In Europe Live in Stuttgart! 1946

Last revised: July 1, 2004 (fixed broken links)