CHARLES MINGUS PART TWO: YEAH!!!!

During the time of COVID I spent my idle time buying music that I needed to get back into.  It was my idea to listen to a few new things, but revisit music that I need to listen to with more mature ears.  This maturity was because I really think I was getting off track.  The music I would listen to is music that I heard many times before and knew all too well.  While teaching at home I would listen to records and CD's that did not get much of a spin.  If they did it was a long time ago and now need to hear it again.  I did not discriminate on what genre I was listening to as long as my ears were open and receptive to what I wanted to play.  I would find stuff in my personal collection or something that was a pretty good deal on Ebay.  There were some good deals for sure.  One of the deals was Charles Mingus's Passions of A Man.  It was $25.00 and in new condition.  

I jumped on it because I only had few Mingus Atlantic years albums.  One that I loved specifically was Oh Yeah! It was this album that not only had deep Jazz influence, but humor. It was the humor that you would expect from Mingus himself.  I have heard him interviewed in archives and he does have an odd sense of humor for sure and Oh Yeah! has it.  Take for example the song that introduced me to the album.  Eat That Chicken has vocals and funny lyrics at that.  He gets the whole band involved.  They sing along with him.  One can guess that this song was off the cuff and live in the studio with one take.  The amusement of the band and myself had everyone in stitches.  

Besides the singing on Eat That Chicken he sings on two others.  Also something to make note of is the fact that Mingus does not play bass on this album.  He is on piano the whole time.  He's not a bad piano player.  If you don't know Mingus's history, he was Classically trained. Knowing that you can understand why he was playing piano on Oh Yeah!.  By the way there more then likely no Classical sounding pieces on this album to speak of.  If I missed something, my fault for not catching it.  It's Mingus's music that great my attention.  It was not even this album that did it.  In my community college years hearing Mingus's Black Saint and Sinner Lady and the local library copy of Mingus Ah Um that made me curious.  Both albums were and still are amazing to listen to again and again.  There is more to this story on my Mingus, Mingus...Mingus post.  

After my professor friend gave me a copy of Oh Yeah!  I knew that my ears would be excited to listen to and that I was ready for the musical challenge. When I was ready to listen it caught me by surprise.  I was okay with that.  Music should be full of that kinda catch you off guard moments that either scratches your head or requires you to play the song or album again to catch, re-listen or makes you think.  Mingus made me do all of those, and more.  What's great about any album is that you will listen to it again and again and smile every time you heard something that might have struck a nerve in a great way and get even more curious on how they recorded that in the studio.  

Oh Yeah! is an album that will stay with you. It is either the music or the singing from Charles Mingus.  For me it is both.  Mingus was in his prime at this point in his career.  It shows that he could not only do do it with humor, but with great ability to have awesome compositions and a band that can play these songs with ease.  It was not my first Mingus I ever got, but it was this album Oh Yeah! that gave me more respect for him and his music.  

Is this the best Mingus?  Well This is among his best. Besides the two I talk about in this blog there are many others to seek out and enjoy.  Money Jungle with Duke Ellington and Max Roach is one that comes to mind.  Any of his Columbia or even his Impulse albums are very noteworthy.  He did it all so well.  He had awesome musicians backing him and he stretched the boundaries of Jazz even further.  Mingus is one of my top favorites and after hearing this tongue and cheek humor and awesome playing (by the way Mingus on piano not bass) on this album you might give it a few spins more then any other.  It's addicting and you too will laugh and enjoy with Mingus and have an awesome ride along the way.  Enjoy!!