At UCLA 1965

It is an unvarnished behind-the-scenes look at the struggle Charles Mingus sometimes faced in his efforts to get his demanding compositions performed. It includes musical confrontations on stage, the difficulties band members experienced with brand new music, his own furies and, ultimately, his refusal to edit out the warts, to tell it like it was. This fearless exposure of the creative process in all its contradictions had led earlier to his concept of the jazz workshops—performances on stage in which the trials and errors of creating music were presented to viewers, unedited. He understood both the fascination for an intelligent audience and the pragmatic reality that by calling his performances workshops, he was able to rehearse his complex works on stage with impunity before a paying audience.