Editing Charles Mingus (section)

===''Mingus Ah Um'' and other works===
In 1959, Mingus and his jazz workshop musicians recorded one of his best-known albums, ''[[Mingus Ah Um]]''. Even in a year of standout masterpieces, including [[Dave Brubeck]]'s ''[[Time Out (album)|Time Out]]'', [[Miles Davis]]'s ''[[Kind of Blue]]'', [[John Coltrane]]'s ''[[Giant Steps]]'', and [[Ornette Coleman]]'s ''[[The Shape of Jazz to Come]]'', this was a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as "[[Goodbye Pork Pie Hat]]" (an elegy to [[Lester Young]]) and the vocal-less version of "Fables of Faubus" (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor [[Orval Faubus]] that features double-time sections). In 2003 the album's legacy was cemented when it was inducted into the [[National Recording Registry]]. Also during 1959, Mingus recorded the album ''[[Blues & Roots]]'', which was released the following year. Mingus said in his liner notes: "I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing."

Mingus witnessed [[Ornette Coleman]]'s legendary—and controversial—1960 appearances at New York City's [[Five Spot]] jazz club. He initially expressed rather mixed feelings for Coleman's innovative music: "... if the free-form guys could play the same tune twice, then I would say they were playing something ... Most of the time they use their fingers on the saxophone and they don't even know what's going to come out. They're experimenting." That same year, however, Mingus formed a quartet with Richmond, trumpeter [[Ted Curson]] and multi-instrumentalist [[Eric Dolphy]]. This ensemble featured the same instruments as Coleman's quartet, and is often regarded as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard established by Coleman. The quartet recorded on both ''[[Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus]]'' and ''[[Mingus (Charles Mingus album)|Mingus]]''. The former also features the version of "[[Fables of Faubus]]" with lyrics, aptly titled "Original Faubus Fables".

In 1961, Mingus spent time staying at the house of his mother's sister (Louise) and her husband, [[Fess Williams]], a clarinetist and saxophonist, in Jamaica, Queens.<ref name="auto">Santoro, Gene. ''Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.</ref> Subsequently, Mingus invited Williams to play at the 1962 [[The Town Hall (New York City)|Town Hall]] Concert.<ref name=TrainWreck>{{cite news|title=Town Hall Train Wreck|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/town-hall-train-wreck/|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|date=June 6, 2000|access-date=January 27, 2024}}</ref>

Only one misstep occurred in this era: ''[[The Complete Town Hall Concert|The Town Hall Concert]]'' in October 1962, a "live workshop"/recording session. With an ambitious program, the event was plagued with troubles from its inception.<ref name=TrainWreck /> Mingus's vision, now known as ''[[Epitaph (Charles Mingus composition)|Epitaph]]'', was finally realized by conductor [[Gunther Schuller]] in a concert in 1989, a decade after Mingus died.

Outside of music, Mingus published a mail-order how-to guide in 1954 called ''The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat''. The guide explained in detail how to get a cat to use a human toilet.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles Mingus Cat Toilet Training Program|url=https://www.charlesmingus.com/mingus/cat-traning-program |website=Charles Mingus |access-date=23 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Charles Mingus toilet trained his cat. We put his method to the test. |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-05-17/charles-mingus-toilet-trained-his-cat-we-put-his-method-test |website=The World from PRX |date=May 16, 2018 |access-date=23 June 2021}}</ref> Sixty years later, in 2014, the late American character actor [[Reg E. Cathey]] performed a voice recording of the complete guide for ''[[Studio 360]]''.<ref>{{citation |title=Studio 360: Reg E. Cathey Reads The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat | date=November 20, 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bkf9dFRpsQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/7Bkf9dFRpsQ| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=June 23, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>