Pithecanthropus Erectus

Mingus's liner notes describe it as a tone poem depicting the rise of man from his hominid roots to an eventual downfall, due to his own failure to realize the inevitable emancipation of those he sought to enslave. The title refers to the Java Man fossil, at the time the oldest human fossil ever found. Part of the piece is free improvisation, without structure or theme. The trumpeter Ron Miles later recorded a version on his album Witness.