Shafi Hadi, ts; Dannie Richmond, drums; Gene Shephard narrating. "The Clown" tells the story of a clown "who tried to please people like most jazz musicians do, but whom nobody liked until he was dead. My version of the story ended with his blowing his brains out with the people laughing and finally being pleased because they thought it was part of the act. I liked the way Jean changed the ending; leaves it more up to the listener." According to a later biography, Mingus was a fan of Shepard's radio show on WOR, and outlined a concept for Shepard but encouraged him to elaborate and improvise.[6]
