Hard for me to be objective with this one, since the UK release of Let My Children coincided with the revitalised Mingus's 1972 stint at Ronnie's and occasioned my interview with the man (in which he also referred to ‘Columbia 2’, which turned out to be Friends In Concert). The studio-recorded Children was a big-band extravaganza of material either new to record (even ‘The Chill Of Death’, later found to be part of Epitaph but here with Mingus's poem overdubbed) or else known only to a handful of collectors (two pieces were rewrites from the ill-distributed 1965 UCLA album). Of these, ‘The I Of Hurricane Sue’ and ‘Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too’ were graced with added sound-effects, and there's much editing and dubbing elsewhere, facilitated by former Mingus sideman Teo Macero. It still sounds marvellous to these ears, whereas the Lincoln Center double-album is a bit more hit-and-miss. As well as brief guest-spots such as Gillespie, there's greater use of the unexpected Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz and especially a resurgent Gene Ammons. The concert's CD reissue added somewhat scrappy versions of three items from Let My Children, among them ‘Don't Be Afraid’ and ‘Hurricane’ without the sound-effects. At its best, this too is a dynamic set, and it's good to have it back again.