Jazz Articles about Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus: Mingus At Antibes

by C. Michael Bailey
August 10, 2005

Charles Mingus. You just have to know that he would have nudged, cajoled, or bullied his way into the top of this list, even twenty years after his death. Mingus at Antibes is a kinetic, frenetic, dysthymic document of the genius of an overly stimulated, overly indulgent, and overly gifted personality. Mingus was not unlike Mozart in the respect that many of Mozart's contemporaries pondered why God granted such an undeserving imp such talent. So with Mingus. How could such ...

Bud Powell: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall

by C. Michael Bailey
August 9, 2005

In 1953 the jazz genre called Be Bop, Bop, Re Bop, or Modern Jazz had fully matured and was settling in as the established mainstream rather than the cutting edge movement it had been in the early 1940s. Jazz as a style collective had begun to further fray at the ends and Be Bop gave way to such subtypes as “Cool," “Hard Bop," “Third Stream," and “Soul Jazz," all considered reactions to Be Bop's frenetic, nervous nature. However, on May ...

Charles Mingus: The Great Concert of Charles Mingus

by Germein Linares
March 3, 2005

The aptly titled The Great Concert of Charles Mingus is an April '64 Paris performance by one of the bassist's all-time great bands. Featuring Eric Dolphy on reeds and flute, Clifford Jordan on tenor saxophone, Jaki Byard on piano, and Dannie Richmond on drums, this two-disc set is the definitive, track-by-track performance of the concert. An earlier CD version of this event had an altered track order, less music, and inferior sound quality compared to this release.

The concert itself ...

Charles Mingus: Live At Montreux 1975

by Jerry D'Souza
January 15, 2005

Charles Mingus Live At Montreux 1975 Eagle Vision 2004

Charles Mingus made his first appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 25, 1975, after he had completed recording the two land mark albums Changes One and Changes Two. It seemed natural enough that he should take the core that defined these albums to Montreux. And so we have Don Pullen on piano, Jack Walrath on trumpet, George Adams on tenor saxophone, flute and ...

Mingus In Greenwich Village

by Mark Sabbatini
December 26, 2004

Charles Mingus Mingus In Greenwich Village Efor Films 2004

As he waits for police to arrive with an eviction order he plays piano, discusses Nazism and fires a rifle into his apartment ceiling as his 5-year-old daughter watches.

There's a reason Charles Mingus is known as the “angry man" of jazz.

Mingus In Greenwich Village may not win him admirers or offer much insight about his music, but the ...

Charles Mingus: Tonight at Noon

by Joel Roberts
November 8, 2004

A valuable reissue for Mingus fans, Tonight at Noon compiles five tunes originally recorded for two of the great bassist's most important album's, 1957's The Clown and 1961's Oh Yeah. Though the two sessions cover somewhat different stylistic ground, they blend together seamlessly and amount to much more than a haphazard assemblage of dusty outtakes.

The earlier session is the more restrained of the two, with Mingus and a typically responsive quintet (trombonist Jimmy Knepper, alto saxophonist Shafi Hadi, pianist ...

The Great Concert of Charles Mingus

by Joshua Weiner
September 9, 2004

Charles Mingus The Great Concert of Charles Mingus Verve 1964/2004

For all that it has survived over the past century, jazz music can be a fragile thing. Its reliance on improvisation and near-telepathic communion between group members means that for something truly transcendent to occur, the stars must be aligned in a way they rarely are. If we add in the hope that such a magical event might be heard by more than a ...