Mingus, Charles Mingus?


I bought my first LP by Charles Mingus in 1960. I had never heard of Mingus and I was looking for something different. I liked the art work on the LP, Mingus Ah Um/ Charles Mingus, so I bought it. I was rewarded beyond my wildest dreams.
For me, Jazz had become "repetitive"; Mingus was anything but. The very first cut evoked pictures and visions. "Better Git it in Your Soul" created a Baptist prayer meeting where everybody got the "Holy Ghost". The 2nd cut, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", created a vision of a man walking down a deserted city sidewalk in the middle of a black night; just him and the neon signs.
I continued to buy "Mingus Music" until his death, and I was never disapointed. If you try "Mingus Ah Um/ Charles Mingus, you might get "Mingus in your soul".
orpheus10
I too love Mingus. His references to the past, from field hollers to dixieland, and his embrace of latin rhythms, never obscured his desire to create new sounds and to march firmly into the future. At a time when jazz was so terribly serious, Mingus music also showed a gentle and gracious sense of humor. He is sorely missed.

I find much of the same ethos in the music of the, lesser known, Rashaan Roland Kirk. Though Kirks music sounds distinctly different. Different from just about anything, come to think of it.

Viridian, I just finished recording "Theme For the Eulipions" from the LP, "Return of the 5000Lb. Man" by Roland Kirk. I have many LP's by Rashaan Roland Kirk. Even the titles are unique. He was also a Mingus fan
Check out Mingus with Eric Dolphy-Town Hall concert. Brilliant album but Mingus never put out anything short of genius in my opinion!
I agree with Fromunda, listening to "Charles Mingus" radio on Pandora as I read this post.
One of absolute favorites! I have a special place in my heart for "Live At Antibes."
big minges fan here. haitian fight song is one of my test tracks for systems: the dynamics, the brass, the 'groove factor', and of course, the bass.
It is realy amazing how things go full circle. I have to make a long story long in order to explain this.
Before CD's came out, I bought records "now" and played them later. If you saw a choice LP at the record store and walked around to decide, it would be gone when you got back; consequently, I bought em when I saw em and played em when ever.
After I got my first CD player, I considered LP extinct. (Fast forward to now) I just got my analog to where it is better than my digital rig. Today, I was looking through my records in the basement and found a brand new Mingus LP with "Pithecanthropus Erectus" on one side and "Haitian Fight Song" on the flip side. Is that full circle, or what?
Mingus, With Eric Dolphy, and Oscar Pettiford,Lucky Thompson, These guys,were True innovators of Jazz. Sadly, they found more fame in every country around the world, where coming home the U.S., often they had to enter via the "back door". Japan, and Europe treated these guys like the "Beatles!" One reason Eric Dolphy planned to live in Paris, before his sudden death; and other expatriate musicians lived in Europe, where they could walk in like everyone else.

I Love Music!