Issued on the import
Acrobat label,
The Unique was originally released in at least two earlier incarnations, first as an LP entitled
Lionel Hampton Presents Charles Mingus on
Hampton's
Giants of Jazz label, and in 2002 as
Lionel's Sessions on the
Universe imprint. Many of these tracks were released on subsequent postmortem recordings on
Atlantic. These sessions were recorded in 1977, with
Charles Mingus at the beginning of a serious decline in health that would result in his death in 1979.
Hampton assembled a band that included not only himself, but
Ricky Ford,
Gerry Mulligan,
Dannie Richmond,
Jack Walrath,
Woody Shaw, and
Paul Jeffrey, with
Mingus holding down the bass chair. Here are new versions of
"Fables of Faubus," "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love," and
"So Long Eric." In addition,
"Farewell, Farewell" and
"Peggy's Blue Skylight," along with the two-part
"Just for Laughs," are included, giving this a wonderful
big-band feel. The problem is that
Hampton is so prevalent on these sessions, in both his instrument and personality, that they feel like recordings from his prime in the '40s and '50s rather than as current works and re-workings of
Mingus classics. The playing is expert but dry and the charts are certainly brilliant, but they feel watered down, more accessible, and less challenging; they lack the spark that is
Mingus' alone. ~ Thom Jurek
