Jazz Articles about Charles Mingus

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Charles Mingus: Tonight At Noon

by Jim Santella
April 1, 2001

What a major, charismatic figure in jazz. His compositions were filled with fire and ice. His bass playing and piano mastery served to lead stellar ensembles and to reveal Mingus' inner feelings. This album was originally issued in 1964. The two recording dates include changes of personnel. Five compositions by Charles Mingus demonstrate quite well the way he structured his suite-like portraits. Changes in meter, changes in mood, and overlapping themes weave a common thread, while each artist was encouraged ...

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Charles Mingus: The Very Best of Charles Mingus: The Atlantic Years

by C. Michael Bailey
March 1, 2001

Charles Mingus never ceases to amaze, even 20 years after his death.

As part of their ambitious Atlantic re-issue program, Rhino Records squirts out a “Very Best of..." collection of Charles Mingus from his years with the label (1950s and 1960s). That is a pretty tall order. Mingus in many ways is as big as Ellington. Always the explorer and pioneer, Charles Mingus' vision touched jazz in its traditional, mainstream, all of the Bops, and Free flavors. Most if not ...

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Charles Mingus: Charles "Baron" Mingus: West Coast, 1945-49

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2001

For documentarians and jazz enthusiasts fascinated by Charles Mingus' career and musical aesthetic, Charles 'Baron' Mingus: West Coast 1945-1949 is a vastly significant CD. For it compiles into one package all of Mingus' first vinyl recordings as a band leader in Los Angeles.Performing in venues along Central Avenue, honing his craft through lessons with Red Callender and Herman Rheinshagen, and establishing important relationships (some of which, like those with Eric Dolphy, lasted a lifetime), Mingus transformed from an ...

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Charles Mingus: Mingus Moves

by Jim Santella
September 1, 1999

Recorded in 1973 with one of his best ensembles, Charles Mingus’ Atlantic album has “that Mingus sound" down pat, pretty much at dead center. Piano, bass and drums roll out the beat while horns tackle the composer’s changes. There’s never a dull moment.

Highly recommended, the album opens with a typically Mingus slow 6/8 dramatic “Canon" that features George Adams’ muscular tenor alongside Ronald Hampton’s soothing trumpet. The quintet combines Don Pullen’s swirling keyboard figures and Dannie Richmond’s percussive ramblings ...

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Charles Mingus: Mingus Moves

by Paula Edelstein
August 1, 1999

Joel Dorn, producer of The Masked Announcer series on the popular 32 JAZZ label, had the good sense to get the goods on this recording originally released by Atlantic in 1973 and re-issue it in the Winter of 1999. MINGUS MOVES, by the demanding, late genius, bassist Charles Mingus, is once again available after being out of print for many years. In 1973, Mingus introduced new artists to his Jazz Workshop. This excellent quintet consisted of Ronald Hampton on trumpet, ...

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Charles Mingus: Mingus Moves

by C. Andrew Hovan
August 1, 1999

So many of the jazz great are now gone, a fact that no one would dispute but that really hits home after listening to a masterpiece such as this reissue of Charles Mingus' Mingus Moves. Not only have we lost the impetuous bassist and composer, but also drummer Dannie Richmond, tenor titan George Adams and the extraordinary pianist Don Pullen. The latter three men, in particular, were taken way before their times and one longs for the incendiary magic that ...

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Mingus, Coltrane, Blakey & Monk: Four Rhino Reissues

by Robert Spencer
March 1, 1999

This second set of Atlantic classic jazz reissues from Rhino is just as attractively and imaginatively packaged as the first, and the music is just as seminal. I wonder why no one had this idea earlier: instead of trying to approximate LP packaging in and around a jewel box, Rhino here simply shrinks the actual original LP sleeve of these jazz classics down to CD size. Additional tracks are added. This mini-LP is then enclosed within a folder that reproduces ...