Well, this is a pleasantly unexpected Christmas present, and no mistake. Not merely because of its musical quality, but also its rarity. Tenor saxophonist Stubblefield’s five-month tenure with Mingus was previously only the subject of memory, seemingly undocumented in print or audio, while trumpeter Gardner, an inventive and noncliched soloist, didn’t stay much longer. He joined for the late 1972 European tour that was heard briefly on a couple of LP festival tracks whereas Pullen, who played an important role for the next four years, had become a bandmember just days before this gig. Ex-Horace Silver drummer Brooks, the only holdover from the still unissued (but apparently surviving) Ronnie Scott’s tapes of August 1972, was by far the best replacement for Dannie Richmond. And the repertoire is fascinating, from the revived ‘Pithecanthropus’ (superior to its 1970 studio revival) to a 26-minute ‘Noddin’ Ya Head Blues’ to two versions of the hitherto unheard ‘Dizzy Profile’, written for Gillespie’s guest appearance on Mingus’s Carnegie Hall concert two weeks earlier. The entire four-hours-plus of first-generation public-radio recording is presented unedited, including longueurs such as the 40-minute break between two sets which is partly filled by a live interview of Brooks (whose family were given the tapes for safe keeping). The sound is good for a club set and the performance is inspiring.