Charles Mingus

i swear every liner note i ever read of his, he says 'pedal point' in

he's a bass player. He can't help it.

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/21/163255582/first-listen-charles-mingus-the-jazz-workshop-concerts-1964-65?sc=tw&cc=share

thanks!

90 seconds in and this is already making my Monday better.

yeah, sounds great.

wonderful. Copa City Titty is great. I could listen to Jaki Byard all day.

yeah, as incredible as the band from this era is, i think byard is secretly the most incredible.

ha ha! "RCA Victor are the only label that pay roayalties properly, cause they make so much money from the atomic bomb, they don't have to worry about cheating jazz musicians"

i want to have 4 kids just so i can name them jaki, dannie, eric and charles

'I am selling my own records from now on... through the mail'

i recently read the mingus bio myself when i am real -- he was a weird dude!

"Copa City Titty"!

".....nothin to do with mammaries..."

Many thanks for the heads up on this set

listening to mingus in this era i always think i'd be ok if that was all i was allowed to listen to for the rest of my days. endlessly wonderful/exciting/crazy music.

I just installed the NPR Music iPhone app to listen to this -- sounds great.

Thanks for posting that link, tylerw. Can't wait for this set. Hey, have you heard Byard's The Jaki Byard Experience? Byard, Kirk, Richard Davis, Alan Dawson. Unbelievable record.

Great review in latest issue of The Wire - sounds like the first four (Dolphy-assisted) discs are pretty essential

How long do these 'first listen' things stay up? I have to work today and don't have the internet at work! Really wanna hear this...

They usually stay up at least for a week

might as well post this here
iTunes Mingus bargains (Europe, at least)
3 in 1 for €4.99, a collection containing Mingus Ah Um, Lionel's Sessions, Pithecanthropus Erectus and The Clown. Yep, that's four!
Mingus at Carnegie Hall for €1.99

Mingus at Carnegie Hall is a sadly overlooked record. Roland Kirk is on fire.

that's the one w/ just two tracks right? and kirk hits that insane note and just holds it for eternity or something?

yep. Wish there was more from those sessions - apparently it barely scratch the surface of what they were like.

yeah reading that bio reminded me i need to hear more of his 70s stuff.

Carnegie is two tracks. Just about to play them on my way home from work :)
AMG says that release misses the opening set and the "freer finale"

Listening to this now, and yes, it's as overwhelmingly brilliant as you'd expect.

My dad saw Mingus -- the group with Dolphy, Byard, Coles, Jordan et al -- in January, 1964 at the Five Spot, two nights running. When I asked him what it was like, he paused, stared off into the distance, and said, "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life."

I wish I too had been there to see the godfather of the upright bass.

It's not just a ruckus jubilation.

The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jibeass Slippers

sorry to hear of ted curson's recent passing - the fake 'live' alb he's on w/ dolphy is prob my fave mingus rec

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/205629_601371096556572_400376268_n.jpg
salvador shared this over on facebook, pretty rad.

hahaha, even juke box operators hate him!

On one of the sets on the new Mosaic box (think it's My Favorite Quintet) he asks the audience not to buy his Columbia or Impulse records, but RCA is ok: "They must make enough from the atomic bomb to pay their musicians."

Charles Morbsus

lol, the precursor to the "language professors HATE him!" ads

Why did juke box operators hate him, because of the lengthy songs?

He decked one for playing one of his singles at the wrong speed

The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jiveass Slippers

where have I heard the opening bar of Moanin' from Blues and Roots? It sounds so familiar, but whosampled only mentions a French hiphop song I'm not that familiar with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__OSyznVDOY&feature=kp

I remember reading about this in 1989-1990, when it was in the pre-planning stages. Had no idea it actually happened -- apparently it was shown on the BBC in 1993, and released on laserdisc.

Directed by Ray Davies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPNhnIwT920

Ha, whoops, no, let's try that again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8b6KdnnM8Y

Reading the newish Mingus Speaks book of interviews and am reminded I enjoy Mingus more as a personality than as a composer. He's never moved me, except as a bassist in small groups. His ambitions were certainly noble, I just find his chamber jazz / big band music ponderous and dull. I'm probably the only one, though, judging by previous conversations with a wide range of music fans (including my wife, who loves Mingus to death).

you must fundamentally misunderstand something about listening to music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqZk8KP6xjo

Does anyone know what song sampled that opening piano riff from "Trio and Group Dancers"? I want to say that it's a trip hop song.

And pretty sure that it features a female vocalist.

I can't believe how long I've slept on Charles Mingus. It's embarrassing, but what a treasure for someone who has been starved for something new.
orchestral and cinematic, but it also swings and is full of soul. The last six months or so I been listening to these as much as possible:

Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956, Atlantic)
The Clown (1957, Atlantic)
Tijuana Moods (RCA, 1957 [1962])
Blues & Roots (1959, Atlantic)
Mingus Ah Um (1959, Columbia)
Mingus Dynasty (1959, Columbia)
Mingus at Antibes (1960, Atlantic)
Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (1960, Candid)
Mingus! (1960, Candid)
Oh Yeah (1961, Atlantic)
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963, Impulse!)
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963, Impulse!; sometimes referred to as Five Mingus)
Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy Cornell 1964 (Blue Note, 1964 [2007])
Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia, 1972)

Charles Mingus had so many different types of tunes. The guy liked to play raw bluesy stuff trying to get some type of constant gospel call and response improvisation between the horns and piano. Then Mingus dares these European classical music pieces or orchestrated big band pieces, dense pieces of harmony. Mingus also came out of be-bop, so he's got that down too. Charles Mingus was a musician at another level and his recorded output is pretty staggering. I got to figure anything he ever did is worth listening to at least once.

Yesterday my daughter insisted on turning up mingus ah um. That was unexpected.