This is an odd one. The album documents an incredible lineup: Charlie Parker on sax, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Max Roach on drums, and Charles Mingus on bass – a summit meeting of bebop’s founding fathers, all onstage at Massey Hall in Toronto in December 1953. This quintet had never recorded together before, and it would be the last recording to feature Parker and Gillespie together. (Parker was credited as “Charlie Chan” because his contract with another label forbade him from working with Mingus’s Debut Records.) This has become one of the most celebrated jazz concerts in history – but its live audience was tiny, due to a high-profile boxing match that was taking place nearby the same night. To make matters worse, the bass was so poorly recorded that Mingus ended up overdubbing new bass parts later on. Despite the challenges, though, the recording is a thrill to listen to.