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Charles Mingus and Miles Davis: Changing Moods
by Mark Werlin
The recordings of Charles Mingus in the mid-1950s document a musical voice so distinctive that they are immediately recognizable today. But Mingus' obsessive commitment to the primacy of the composition was not always shared by his peers, nor understood by his critics. A public feud between Mingus, who was struggling unsuccessfully to win critical recognition and financial rewards, and Miles Davis, then poised for prominence and commercial success, contains clues to the musical conundrum that both sought to ...
Continue ReadingCharles Mingus: Mingus in Wonderland – 1959
by Marc Davis
In 1959, there were two Charles Minguses: the Mingus you knew and the Mingus you didn't. In May 1959, Mingus recorded his very best album ever: the incomparable Mingus Ah Um. And I mean incomparable in the literal sense. There is, literally, no other record quite like it. It's a big band, but not a Big Band. It's progressive but approachable. It's a tribute to the past that is also forward-looking. It is simply a tour de force. ...
Continue ReadingBetter Git It In Your Soul: An Interpretive Biography of Charles Mingus
by Ian Patterson
Better Git It In Your Soul: An Interpretive Biography Of Charles Mingus Krin Gabbard 296 Pages ISBN: 978-0-520 University California Press 2016 Compared to other historically important jazz figures, few have been the books dedicated to Charles Mingus, which is strange given his enduring influence on modern jazz practitioners. Perhaps Mingus was simply too complex a figure, both as a character and as a prolific composer of wildly inventive music to invite easy ...
Continue ReadingMingus Speaks
by John Goodman
Mingus on the Avant-Garde and Tradition Here's Charles Mingus talking about two of his favorite subjects, the avant-garde pretenders and the need for jazz players to understand the traditions of their music. The excerpt is from my book Mingus Speaks (2013, University of California Press). --John F Goodman Mingus: Everybody's got ego and everybody who lives in a human body thinks they're better than another guy. Even if a guy's considered to be a nigger ...
Continue ReadingJohn F. Goodman: Mingus secondo Mingus
by Maurizio Zerbo
Mingus secondo Mingus John F. Goodman Minimum Fax482 pagine 978-88-7521-553-82014 Tra il 1972 ed il 1974 il cinquantenne Charles Mingus concede una serie di interviste a John F. Goodman, giornalista di Playboy che ne aveva empaticamente recensito il concerto di rientro, dopo alcuni anni di ritiro dalla scena musicale. Il geniale contrabbassista mette a nudo il suo cuore, rivelando aspetti poco noti della sua personalità umana (uno humor inglese) ed artistica. Questa ...
Continue ReadingThe Mingus Excerpt
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
“The Mingus Excerpt" shows a sweet side of Charles Mingus that few people saw or could imagine. After all, his nickname was “The Angry Man of Jazz," and most biographical material supports that designation in one way or other. But for all his bluster and bombast, there was also generosity and kindness. This story describes his unlikely friendship with Steve Reichman, a young Jewish kid from the suburbs who eventually committed suicide in Morocco, at the age of ...
Continue ReadingMingus Speaks
by Ian Patterson
Mingus Speaks John F. Goodman 329 pages ISBN: 978-0-520-27523-2 University of California Press 2013 Many are the books written about bassist/composer and bandleader Charles Mingus--one of the most influential jazz figures of the post-war years. His own autobiographical work, Beneath the Underdog (Knopf, 1971) was a sprawling, boiling stew of memoir and fiction that remains the most revealing portrait of an artist as anguished as he was brilliant. Bouts of depression, a period ...
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