Better Get It in Your Soul.

[Serial_Apologist]

The Mingus jazzathon weekend:

Sat 16 Apr
5pm - J to Z
Julian Joseph showcases the finest new jazz alongside classics of the genre, today celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Mingus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001691z

12midnight - Freeness
Corey Mwamba marks the centenary of Arizona-born jazz giant and master of improv Charles Mingus with highlights of the most adventurous recordings from a career marked by inventiveness and creativity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001692j

Easter Sunday
4pm - Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton devotes a whole edition to American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus (1922-79) ahead of Friday's centenary of his birth.

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001692c

Fri 22 Apr
11pm - Late Junction
Verity Sharp shares a mixtape from "Queen of Brazilian Jazz" Flora Purim, who at 80 has just released her first studio album for 15 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00169kz

[Tenor Freak]

Easter Sunday
4pm - Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton devotes a whole edition to American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus (1922-79) ahead of Friday's centenary of his birth.

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001692c

One of my choices there in JRR, which I suggested via Twitter.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

One of my choices there in JRR, which I suggested via Twitter.

Me too hopefully, mine from Mingus plays Piano - "Orange was the colour of her dress, then blue silk". As he says at the start of one of these tracks, "it's a lot easier for me to do this at home ". A fine album though.

[Ian Thumwood]

I must admit that I find Mingus really frustrating. He is an musician I never saw but #i have seen the Mingus Big Band on two occasions and have to say it is a staggeringly exciting experience. My Dad reckoned that they were one of the best gigs he went to and , for shear excitement, this band is unbeatable. What was salutory for me was hearing the Mingus band perform a piece at Vienne which also featured in a LCJO concert with Wynton Marsalis a week later. There was absolutely no comparison.

I can recall reading Brian Preistley's biography of Mingus many years ago and I think he was very perceptive about Charles Mingus. From recollection, there was a suggestion that Mingus' volatile personality sabotaged a lot of his work. Of all the "greats" in jazz, I think Mingus is probably the one musician who is under-represented and I think Priestley's book did a lot to colour my perception of his music. His records always wear their heart on the sleeve more than any other jazz musician. When he is good, his music is excellent yet there are moments when i feel he puts the a stick in the spokes. (The best example being his playing on the opening track of "Money Jungle" where he is trying to ruin the recording - the rest of the disc is exceptional, though. ) Something like "Black Saint and the sinner lady" is a prime example. The first movement is the best thing he ever recorded yet the music goes off the rails when Jay Berliner starts to play the guitar in my opinion.

As a bass player, I do not feel Mingus gets the respect that he gets for his composition. It would be interesting to read Alyn's take on Miingus bass playing because I have read conflicting impressions of his playing. I first encountered Mingus' playing with Red Norvo's trio which also featured Tal Farlow. It is ages since I have heard these records but they always gave me the impression that he was a very good bass player indeed. No one talks about this trio anymore. It has been totally forgotten and it would be interesting to be reacquainted with this music. As a bassist, I feel that Mingus must have left a big impression on Malachi Favors and William Parker.

The other thing I feel about Mingus is that I can never see the "avant garde" thing in his music, even when he employed Eric Dolphy. The Ellington influence is paramount and I feel that a lot of Mingus' music takes it's cues from the jazz of an earlier era. Granted, there is more of an organic element in Mingus' music than with Ellington yet the music strikes me as being accessible for anyone coming out of pre-Be-bop jazz. Even if the shear enegry of his music fails to grab you, there is nothing disonant or awkward about his musical language that could put your off. An album like "Ah um" even flirts with Traditional jazz. I would struggle to consider him to be a "modernist" and feel that he looked backwards and much as he looked forwards. In my opinion, Mingus is safely esconced within the jazz mainstream.

Mingus is an enigma for me. I love his best work on record and think his compositions are extremely catchy. However, with the passage of time, I do not think he is really any more "modern" than Duke Ellington. If you consider what happened to jazz in the 1960s, I think jazz composition had progressed so much that the likes of Hancock, Shorter, Hill, Taylor, etc, etc were almost using a totally different musical language. I have to admit that I find Mingus erratic and uneven. I appreciate the organic nature of his composing and admire what he was trying to achieve which was admirable. However, at the end of the day, I would have to choose Ellington over Mingus everytime.

[Jazzrook]

The Mingus jazzathon weekend:

Sat 16 Apr
5pm - J to Z
Julian Joseph showcases the finest new jazz alongside classics of the genre, today celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Mingus.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001691z

12midnight - Freeness
Corey Mwamba marks the centenary of Arizona-born jazz giant and master of improv Charles Mingus with highlights of the most adventurous recordings from a career marked by inventiveness and creativity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001692j

Easter Sunday
4pm - Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton devotes a whole edition to American bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus (1922-79) ahead of Friday's centenary of his birth.

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001692c

Fri 22 Apr
11pm - Late Junction
Verity Sharp shares a mixtape from "Queen of Brazilian Jazz" Flora Purim, who at 80 has just released her first studio album for 15 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00169kz

Just noticed, Anthony Braxton's 'Ghost Trance Music', recorded in February at Cafe Oto is on the 'New Music Show' tonight(Sat 16 Apr).

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Just noticed, Anthony Braxton's 'Ghost Trance Music', recorded in February at Cafe Oto is on the 'New Music Show' tonight(Sat 16 Apr).

JR

That is most useful thanks, having overlooked it in RT.

[Tenor Freak]

I must admit that I find Mingus really frustrating. He is an musician I never saw but #i have seen the Mingus Big Band on two occasions and have to say it is a staggeringly exciting experience. My Dad reckoned that they were one of the best gigs he went to and , for shear excitement, this band is unbeatable. What was salutory for me was hearing the Mingus band perform a piece at Vienne which also featured in a LCJO concert with Wynton Marsalis a week later. There was absolutely no comparison.

I can recall reading Brian Preistley's biography of Mingus many years ago and I think he was very perceptive about Charles Mingus. From recollection, there was a suggestion that Mingus' volatile personality sabotaged a lot of his work. Of all the "greats" in jazz, I think Mingus is probably the one musician who is under-represented and I think Priestley's book did a lot to colour my perception of his music. His records always wear their heart on the sleeve more than any other jazz musician. When he is good, his music is excellent yet there are moments when i feel he puts the a stick in the spokes. (The best example being his playing on the opening track of "Money Jungle" where he is trying to ruin the recording - the rest of the disc is exceptional, though. ) Something like "Black Saint and the sinner lady" is a prime example. The first movement is the best thing he ever recorded yet the music goes off the rails when Jay Berliner starts to play the guitar in my opinion.

As a bass player, I do not feel Mingus gets the respect that he gets for his composition. It would be interesting to read Alyn's take on Miingus bass playing because I have read conflicting impressions of his playing. I first encountered Mingus' playing with Red Norvo's trio which also featured Tal Farlow. It is ages since I have heard these records but they always gave me the impression that he was a very good bass player indeed. No one talks about this trio anymore. It has been totally forgotten and it would be interesting to be reacquainted with this music. As a bassist, I feel that Mingus must have left a big impression on Malachi Favors and William Parker.

The other thing I feel about Mingus is that I can never see the "avant garde" thing in his music, even when he employed Eric Dolphy. The Ellington influence is paramount and I feel that a lot of Mingus' music takes it's cues from the jazz of an earlier era. Granted, there is more of an organic element in Mingus' music than with Ellington yet the music strikes me as being accessible for anyone coming out of pre-Be-bop jazz. Even if the shear enegry of his music fails to grab you, there is nothing disonant or awkward about his musical language that could put your off. An album like "Ah um" even flirts with Traditional jazz. I would struggle to consider him to be a "modernist" and feel that he looked backwards and much as he looked forwards. In my opinion, Mingus is safely esconced within the jazz mainstream.

Mingus is an enigma for me. I love his best work on record and think his compositions are extremely catchy. However, with the passage of time, I do not think he is really any more "modern" than Duke Ellington. If you consider what happened to jazz in the 1960s, I think jazz composition had progressed so much that the likes of Hancock, Shorter, Hill, Taylor, etc, etc were almost using a totally different musical language. I have to admit that I find Mingus erratic and uneven. I appreciate the organic nature of his composing and admire what he was trying to achieve which was admirable. However, at the end of the day, I would have to choose Ellington over Mingus everytime.

I think Mingus is definitely regarded as a major composer in the music; there are lots of covers of his tunes. He had his temper and could be boorish and violent. He had a lot to be angry about. But he was also capable of composing some of the most beautiful melodies in the music - for example, "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love", "Self Portrait in Three Colors" (sic) or most of Joni Mitchell's album "Mingus". By the '70s his bands included the likes of George Adams and Don Pullen, so he'd definitely had incorporated musicians who were "avant garde" even if he himself wasn't. I like his late period, which is why I requested a piece from that era.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think Mingus is definitely regarded as a major composer in the music; there are lots of covers of his tunes. He had his temper and could be boorish and violent. He had a lot to be angry about. But he was also capable of composing some of the most beautiful melodies in the music - for example, "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love", "Self Portrait in Three Colors" (sic) or most of Joni Mitchell's album "Mingus". By the '70s his bands included the likes of George Adams and Don Pullen, so he'd definitely had incorporated musicians who were "avant garde" even if he himself wasn't. I like his late period, which is why I requested a piece from that era.

Pretty astonishing that a whole weekend's jazz devoted to Mingus succeeded in not including one track with Eric Dolphy on. Unless I nodded off for a moment.

[Alyn_Shipton]

S-A Care to ask for a suitable Dolphy plus Mingus track for future edition to put that right?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Excellent program, many thanks indeed. I had to check who was the soprano soloist on "Black Saint" even though I've had it since it came out in one form or another. As back announced, Jerome Richardson. A remarkable body of work with some remarkable musicians. Some made even more so in his contexts.

[Serial_Apologist]

S-A Care to ask for a suitable Dolphy plus Mingus track for future edition to put that right?

One can accept that a Jazz Record requests edition devoted to Mingus might not include a track featuring Eric Dolphy, but three programmes marking the man's centenary?

[Jazzrook]

One can accept that a Jazz Record requests edition devoted to Mingus might not include a track featuring Eric Dolphy, but three programmes marking the man's centenary?

I was surprised that the supposedly adventurous 'Freeness' programme didn't feature a Mingus/Dolphy track but we did hear from Mingus's son, named Eric!

JR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Maybe not adventurous but wonderful, "Dukes Choice" from 1957. Clarence Shaw trumpet. From Mingus's "Modern Music Symposium" album. I forgot I had this until J to Z featured it.

http://youtu.be/ddRSnpHN4mo

[Jazzrook]

Maybe not adventurous but wonderful, "Dukes Choice" from 1957. Clarence Shaw trumpet. From Mingus's "Modern Music Symposium" album. I forgot I had this until J to Z featured it.

http://youtu.be/ddRSnpHN4mo

A very moving track, BN.
Another overlooked Mingus album is 'East Coasting' recorded in 1957 around the same time as 'Tijuana Moods'.
Here's the title track with Jimmy Knepper, Shafi Hadi, Clarence Shaw, Bill Evans & Dannie Richmond. I should have requested that for the Mingus JRR:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=_GJ438ELdxU

JR

[Ian Thumwood]

Maybe not adventurous but wonderful, "Dukes Choice" from 1957. Clarence Shaw trumpet. From Mingus's "Modern Music Symposium" album. I forgot I had this until J to Z featured it.

http://youtu.be/ddRSnpHN4mo

I thought that this track was pretty good too. It took a minute for me to realise that the theme was later used in one of the movements of "The black saint and the sinneer lady."