The Living Theatre Presents The Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop with Kenneth Patchen (Original flyer for two 1959 musical performances)

New York: The Living Theatre, 1959. Vintage two-color flyer, advertising a performance by The Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop with Kenneth Patchen, held on March 16 and March 20, 1959 at The Living Theatre.

Charles Mingus first conceived of the jazz workshop in 1951, in the hopes of fostering the exchange of ideas and encouraging varied forms of composition among jazz musicians. After moving to New York in 1951 Mingus began to develop the workshop with a loose group of rotating musicians, creating both new compositions and innovative interpretations of standards. By 1953 he had organized a series of jazz workshop concerts at the Putnam Central (truncated) Club in Brooklyn, with early participants that included Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, and Art Blakey. After Mingus' death in 1979, Mingus' wife would continue to create workshops with the original Mingus Dynasty quintet and septets, the Mingus Big Band, and the Mingus Orchestra, and the workshops continue to this day.

An integral influence on both the San Francisco Renaissance and the Beat Generation, poet and novelist Kenneth Patchen was a creative polymath, exploring various forms of multimedia artwork throughout his career. In 1959 Patchen spent two weeks with Mingus in New York, culminating in the performances announced in the flyer on offer.

8.5 x 13 inches. With a closed tear on the top right, archivally repaired on the verso, else Near Fine. (Inventory #: 158560)