Charlie Mingus

Hi Naim Nymph,

Well, I must admit. I was smitten with Mingus' music the first time I heard it, too. You might try Ahhh Umm (sorry, don't know about the spelling). I think Joni Mitchell was a big fan of his and did a tribute album in the 70's. Can't think of the title...


Happy Listening

DMC

Mingus Ah Um


Rip rig etc Roland Kirk

naimnymph,
so glad you have discovered Mingus.

You might also like this....


If you stay with Mingus then check out the Cornell '64 "worskhop" recording that was released last year. It is a great moment in time, capturing Mingus and his band (w/Dolphy!) at Cornell University in upstate NY. You can hear Mingus in the background laughing, shouting out and enthusing with a lot of raw emotion and love for his band his music. It's got great energy, if not always the best sonics (they're plenty good enough though)....



daniel

I've not heard his music but Joni did an album tribute to him, tho I think they were not covers of his works. Someone was interviewed about producing Joni's work at that time and comment about it being her jazz period and not selling well and why he let her do this. His comment: You're going to tell Joni Mitchell she can't do an album on Mingus after all she's done for us?

I've been seriously listening to Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, it is wonderful I'll be looking out for her other works that weren't "Hits"

quote:

Originally posted by Wolf2:
I've not heard his music but Joni did an album tribute to him, tho I think they were not covers of his works. Someone was interviewed about producing Joni's work at that time and comment about it being her jazz period and not selling well and why he let her do this. His comment: You're going to tell Joni Mitchell she can't do an album on Mingus after all she's done for us?

I've been seriously listening to Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, it is wonderful I'll be looking out for her other works that weren't "Hits"

... for the title alone.

Personally, I love Money Jungle but there is such a huge canon of music to enjoy that it will just be better to dip your toe in at all the various stages of his evolution. My Guilty pleasure is his Tijuana Moods.

quote:

Originally posted by Huwge:
Personally, I love Money Jungle but there is such a huge canon of music to enjoy that it will just be better to dip your toe in at all the various stages of his evolution. My Guilty pleasure is his Tijuana Moods.

Two great recommendations.

quote:

Originally posted by Huwge:
Personally, I love Money Jungle but there is such a huge canon of music to enjoy that it will just be better to dip your toe in at all the various stages of his evolution. My Guilty pleasure is his Tijuana Moods.

[

Another big vote for Money Jungle. Great album with a seminal, yet most unlikely lineup. Mingus, was said not to get along with Duke. . . yet they produced a classic!

Very bluesy, groovin gem of an album. Definitely a desert island disc for me!!!

Another excellent CM album worth considering, although not strictly from the 50's/'60's, which I don't think should be anyones limiting factor for good jazz . . . .
"Changes II"

Huwge, why the guilt?! Take it easy on yourself.

Max

A big thank you for all the input, guys!

Very interesting reading your suggestions, they've all been put down on my wish list...

I've gone ahead and ordered the Duke Ellington - Money Jungle. The amazon reveiws are very good too!

Whilst looking around at the huge output-range from Charles Mingus, i made a (impulse due to the bargain £4.62 price) decision to buy the 3 cd-box of 1959 Columbia Recordings. I really don't know what i've let myself in for, but should be fun finding out after it arrives.

The more comments about Mingus's music the merrier! : )

nymph

Disc: 1
1. Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul
2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat [Unedited]
3. Boogie Stop Shuffle [Unedited]
4. Self-Portrait in Three Colors
5. Open Letter to Duke [Unedited]
6. Bird Calls [Unedited]
7. Fables of Faubus
8. Pussy Cat Dues [Unedited]
9. Jelly Roll [Unedited]
10. Pedal Point Blues
11. GG Train
12. Girl of My Dreams
Disc: 2
1. Slop [Unedited]
2. Diane
3. Song With Orange [Unedited]
4. Gunslinging Bird [Unedited]
5. Things Ain't What They Used to Be [Unedited]
6. Far Wells, Mill Valley
7. New Now Know How
8. Mood Indigo
9. Put Me in That Dungeon
10. Strollin'
Disc: 3
1. Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul [Alternate Take]
2. Bird Calls [Alternate Take]
3. Jelly Roll [Alternate Take]
4. Song With Orange [Alternate Take]
5. Diane [Alternate Take]
6. New Now Know How [Alternate Take]

Mingus is great. My favorite is Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid) --great solo work by Eric Dolphy and the rarely recorded trumpet of Ted Curson. This is Mingus at his most adverturous (and hilarious) with his best small group band, which was very short lived. You really can't go wrong with any of his early Atlantic recordings either--I highly recommend the multiple CD compilation of his early Atlantics.

Antibes....

Part of my Jazz education. Heard tracks of it in the late seventies (when they were already "rusty", and was gobsmacked. Titles like "Better git hit in your soul" taught me more about sixties Jazz (and Jazz in general) than all Miles Davis recordings, together. And they still do.

I give my highest recommendation to these fantastic volumes, both culled from the same sessions in the 1970s with a too often under-appreciated Mingus band: George Adams - sax, Jack Walrath - trumpet, Don Pullen - piano, and Danny Richmond - drums.

Anyone who mistakenly thinks that the 1970s were a jazz wasteland (a strangely commonly held view among some, for reasons which continue to mystify me), here is exhibit A for the defense:


Changes One




Changes Two




All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:

Titles like "Better git hit in your soul" taught me more about sixties Jazz (and Jazz in general) than all Miles Davis recordings, together. And they still do.

Why?

All best,
Fred

Blue and Roots is my favorite Mingus CD. I want to suggest a more obscure album which has been a favorite of mine since college. The name of the album is 'The Weary Blues'. It is under the Blue Note Label. What makes this such a great cd is that Langston Hughes, one of America's great African American poets, reads his poems over the top of the music. The is a wonderful poem eulogizing Charlie Parker, amongst others. The album is more about Langston than Mingus but I highly recommend it to any jazz fan.



Here is the poem which the album is entitled: (Imagine Charlie playing in the background)

1 Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
2 Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
3 I heard a Negro play.
4 Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
5 By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
6 He did a lazy sway ....
7 He did a lazy sway ....
8 To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
9 With his ebony hands on each ivory key
10 He made that poor piano moan with melody.
11 O Blues!
12 Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
13 He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
14 Sweet Blues!
15 Coming from a black man's soul.
16 O Blues!
17 In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
18 I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--
19 "Ain't got nobody in all this world,
20 Ain't got nobody but ma self.
21 I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
22 And put ma troubles on the shelf."
23 Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
24 He played a few chords then he sang some more--
25 "I got the Weary Blues
26 And I can't be satisfied.
27 Got the Weary Blues
28 And can't be satisfied--
29 I ain't happy no mo'
30 And I wish that I had died."
31 And far into the night he crooned that tune.
32 The stars went out and so did the moon.
33 The singer stopped playing and went to bed
34 While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
35 He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

Hello Houston,

Welcome to the forum!

Langston Hughes poety sounds very interesting, this must really be thinking persons Jazz music.
I will have to look up this Weary Blues album, sort of reminds me of how i feel when at work! ; )

kind regards to you!

nymph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQU5DFORDy0

Oh, thanks for asking ! (Normally, I feel this forum is like a bucket to pour things into)

Well, because it did exactly THAT to me: "Hit me in my soul". In comparison, other Jazz artists of that time (THAT I KNEW) either tried to be as non-mainstream as possible, leaving behind people like myself, or hadn't moved away from the Jazz they had grown up with. Mingus was radical and avantgardistic in his own way (on "Antibes", people yell at him to "move on!"), but was still oscillating aound his (and the Jazz) roots. THAT made it possible for me to (1) notice him/them at all and (2) get "into" his music" and (3) be interested to understand the "free" elements of his music.

Now, if your question was les about Mingus and more about Davis (which is fair): With few exceptions (like the "Ascenseur.." soundtrack) Miles has not been able to touch my soul. My intellect ? Maybe. Sometimes. His merits as a band leader and a talent scout not-withstanding (it still is a premium quality stamp to have been in his neighbourhood, even for the shortest time). Neither his merits to change and shape direction of the Jazz. He just "doensn't do it" for me as much as others...

Interested in hearing your answer on this...

Best
Stefan

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:

quote:

Originally posted by sjust:

Titles like "Better git hit in your soul" taught me more about sixties Jazz (and Jazz in general) than all Miles Davis recordings, together. And they still do.

Why?

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by naim_nymph:
Hello Houston,

Welcome to the forum!

Langston Hughes poety sounds very interesting, this must really be thinking persons Jazz music.
I will have to look up this Weary Blues album, sort of reminds me of how i feel when at work! ; )

kind regards to you!

nymph

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQU5DFORDy0

Do not let the youtube video scare you off, YIKES!

-Houston

quote:

Originally posted by MilesSmiles:

quote:

Originally posted by Wolf2:
I've not heard his music but Joni did an album tribute to him, tho I think they were not covers of his works. Someone was interviewed about producing Joni's work at that time and comment about it being her jazz period and not selling well and why he let her do this. His comment: You're going to tell Joni Mitchell she can't do an album on Mingus after all she's done for us?

I've been seriously listening to Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, it is wonderful I'll be looking out for her other works that weren't "Hits"

I like this record from Joni. Definitely worth a listen.

I've had this record since LPs cost $7.95. Never played it much until the last couple of years, now it's one of my favourites. It has an appealingly stark quality.

Joni Mitchell - Mingus

available on CD:

Asylum (release date: 1 Oct 1999) = £5.98

Warners [Import] = £22.49

What makes the Warners so much more expensive?

Does it sound better?

if you do the streaming/download thing, try:

www dot npr dot org

and search Charles Mingus. you will get 148 hits including some downloadable shows.

npr is an amazing resource, search any musicians or groups and you will probably find something.

quote:

Do the other guys in the ‘Blues & Roots’ group have recommended albums?…

nymph

Most Jackie McLean albums are superb