Charles Mingus was a creative genius, a fact boldly obvious from listening to any of his work, sometimes seemingly borne from mere whim, his ensemble held together by his background hollers and hoots, pressing forward like a train into long cuts until it winded down every rail.
Legend has it that Charlie had an erratic temper, but what else can we ask for from this compositional master? My favorite snippet from his wiki bio:
Guitarist and singer Jackie Paris was a first-hand witness to Mingus's irascibility. Paris recalls his time in the Jazz Workshop: "He chased everybody off the stand except [drummer] Paul Motian and me... The three of us just wailed on the blues for about an hour and a half before he called the other cats back."
For an interesting portrait of the man behind the music check out this 1968 documentary (viewable online). If one thing is clear, Mingus was an emotional guy, and despite his personal struggles and perhaps instability, he expressed it beautifully in his music.
There is a quintessential recording of Mingus' 'I'll Remember April' from his Atlantic label years that I could not find online, so I will leave you with the first song of his that I heard that sent a chill down my spine
Legend has it that Charlie had an erratic temper, but what else can we ask for from this compositional master? My favorite snippet from his wiki bio:
Guitarist and singer Jackie Paris was a first-hand witness to Mingus's irascibility. Paris recalls his time in the Jazz Workshop: "He chased everybody off the stand except [drummer] Paul Motian and me... The three of us just wailed on the blues for about an hour and a half before he called the other cats back."
For an interesting portrait of the man behind the music check out this 1968 documentary (viewable online). If one thing is clear, Mingus was an emotional guy, and despite his personal struggles and perhaps instability, he expressed it beautifully in his music.
There is a quintessential recording of Mingus' 'I'll Remember April' from his Atlantic label years that I could not find online, so I will leave you with the first song of his that I heard that sent a chill down my spine
