CHARLES MINGUS PART ONE: Mingus

My first Charles Mingus listening was at a local library where I worked and it was his 1959 album Mingus Ah Um.  It was quite progressive for my household.  My father really did not like it.  He told me it was too messy.  There was too much music going on.  It sounded like it was caught in a blender.  That made me want to listen to it more.  It was when I started going to school at the local community college that my Jazz listening and love of Charles Mingus began to be more fruitful.

While at my community college my English Professor got me into all kinds of stuff. I mentioned this when in my post about Ornette Coleman, and Eric Dolphy. Not only did he help me with Jazz but he helped me with Classical. He was a great fan of 20th Century Classical and he liked all the hard Classical listens too. For example he loved Messiaen, Carter, Shostakovich, Mahler, Berg, Stockhausen and many others. He told me they were the Jazz forerunners of Classical music. He also told me that a man who does not get credit for his classical learning is Charles Mingus.

Charles Mingus was Classically trained he explained. He told me that he might have been the most music smart of all the Jazz people out there. I did not hear much Mingus before that time and I thought it would be cool to check him out. The English Professor asked me to bring in a few cassette tapes for him to record some Mingus. He told me he would give me full albums and not any type of greatest hits type albums. He did not tell me what albums I would be getting but he did tell me the two they have at the college library are not the ones I was going to get, but I should listen to those as well.

Two weeks passed and he asked me to come to his office for the tapes. He handed me Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus and Black Saint and the Sinner Lady on one tape and on the other the Charles Mingus Town Hall Concert and Oh Yeah! on the other tape. He told me that I should soak it all in and enjoy. He did not tell me what his personal favorite, but he did mention that he was a fan of the early 60's Mingus of all. I took the tapes and put them in my car and I would listen to them after class. I was not sure what to think. I mean he told me he was classically trained and I thought I was going to listen to my uncle's Jazz not stuff I been listening to that he gave me. I mean we have yet to study him in Jazz class and the stuff I listened to in High School was not exactly the stuff I wanted to hear again.

So the first tape I started with was the Mingus, Mingus... one and like the Ornette Coleman this music was a life changing musical event. His music I was hearing before was something that sounded to much like the jazz that I heard. This music was fresh and wonderful and a little more different then most Jazz. Mingus not only played the Bass, but he also played the Piano and sang. He even had some conducting of the band that he was in. I could now see why Mingus was so good.

When I look back at the Mingus, Mingus Mingus album there are so many great musicians that played on it.  Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, and Jaki Byard.  Those three along can really keep your interest in 60's Jazz music alone.  They also put out very worthwhile music on their own.  Maybe a future post on them would be in order.  

As I listened to the tapes I got more and more into him. I liked everything I heard. I really did like the first one I listened to and all the songs were very good. I would recommend any Mingus, but for now let's just start with the one I first heard. Mingus is a one of the best musicians to hear and if you don't have any this is the best place to start and see why his music crosses so many boundaries in the musical spectrum. Soon you too will be a Charles Mingus fan too. Enjoy!! Lastly, if you like Mingus's music every Monday night the Jazz Standard Has Mingus Monday's or Mingus Big Band play.  Worth the trip to watch this unique and awesome man Charles Mingus live on. Enjoy!!