The Clown opens with Haitian Fight Song, the piece in which Charles Mingus uses his bass as a marching voice and which he would go on to rework many times. The title track tells of a clown who only gets applause once he hurts himself, with radio broadcaster Jean Shepherd improvising his narration over the music on the spot. Mingus originally recorded the album for Atlantic in 1957, with Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Shafi Hadi on saxophone, Wade Legge on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums. The line-up is small, but the music keeps shifting in tempo and dynamics.

This edition is an LP.