Charles Mingus · I know them well

Deep into Mingus

This path is the Mingus few people own: the early 1950s, mostly as a sideman, on his own Debut label and others. It runs roughly in order, from the 1951 duets to 1956, and shows how much he played before his own records took over.

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Bass and piano, 1951
Strings And Keys Charles Mingus, Spaulding Givens · Debut DLP-1 · 1953
The first LP on Debut was not a new session. These duets were recorded in Los Angeles in April 1951, while Mingus was still with Red Norvo, with the pianist Spaulding Givens. They came out as DLP-1 once the label was up and running. It's a rare chance to hear Mingus with no drummer and no horns, playing standards as a duo, and "Blue Tide" at the end. It is the bassist as a partner, a long way from the bands he would lead.
Start with
- Body And Soul
- Yesterdays
- Blue Tide
With no drums, listen to how the bass both keeps the time and answers the piano. On "Body And Soul" and "Yesterdays", two ballads he played often, follow Mingus as a full partner rather than a timekeeper. Then hear how "Blue Tide" changes the mood at the end.
In the band
Spaulding Givens · piano
Spaulding Givens was a pianist who worked with Mingus in Los Angeles and is also credited as an arranger on some of his early Debut music. He later became a Muslim and took the name Nadi Qamar, and he spent his later life with African thumb pianos, recording instruction albums on the likembe for Folkways. Little else about him is well documented.
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Baron Fingus
George Wallington Trio George Wallington Trio · Prestige PRLP 136 · 1952
On September 4, 1952, probably at WOR Studios in New York, the pianist George Wallington recorded a trio session for Prestige with Max Roach on drums and a bassist billed as "Baron Fingus". It was Mingus, under a joke name. He plays on the first four tunes on this 10-inch LP; Oscar Pettiford takes over on the other four. Chuck Wayne joins on one track on mandola, a lower relative of the mandolin. It's early Mingus in New York, a few months after he and Roach started Debut.
Start with
- Love Beat
- Summer Rain
- Escalating
"Love Beat" is the track with Chuck Wayne's mandola, a sound you seldom hear in jazz. On "Summer Rain" and "Escalating", follow Wallington's long, fast lines and how Mingus and Roach keep them aloft. Then compare the bass on the later tracks, with Pettiford.
In the band
George Wallington · piano
George Wallington was born Giacinto Figlia in Sicily and grew up in New York. He was in at the start of bebop, playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in the early 1940s. His tunes "Lemon Drop" and "Godchild" were taken up by Woody Herman and Miles Davis. In the mid-1950s he led a quintet with Donald Byrd and Jackie McLean. In 1960 he quit music for the family business in Florida, and came back to record only in the 1980s.
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Mingus at the piano for Miles
Miles Davis Quartet Miles Davis Quartet · Prestige PRLP 161 · 1954
On May 19, 1953, Miles Davis recorded a quartet for Prestige at WOR Studios with John Lewis, Percy Heath and Max Roach. Lewis was called away, and Mingus, who was there, sat in at the piano for one tune. That tune, "Smooch", credited to Davis and Mingus, is an early version of Mingus's "Weird Nightmare". It was the last studio session Davis made before he kicked his heroin habit the next year. Side two of this 10-inch LP is a March 1954 date with Horace Silver and Art Blakey. A small oddity, three minutes long, but one of very few records of Mingus playing piano behind someone else.
Start with
- Smooch
Davis is the only soloist. Listen to Mingus's piano as a backdrop: dark chords, a slow, dreamy mood, the kind of ballad writing he would keep coming back to. Heath, not Mingus, is on bass. It is about three minutes long, the one track on the record where John Lewis or Horace Silver is not at the piano.
In the band
Miles Davis · trumpet
Miles Davis was 26 and in poor shape in 1953, addicted to heroin and working less. He had already made the Birth Of The Cool sessions. A year after this date he was clean and starting a run of Prestige records that led to his great quintet. Two years later he made a whole record for Mingus's own label, Debut.
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Four trombones in Brooklyn
Jazz Workshop Vol. 1 Trombone Rapport · Debut DLP-5 · 1954
On September 18, 1953, Mingus recorded a workshop concert at the Putnam Central Club in Brooklyn with four trombonists: J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green and Willie Dennis. John Lewis played piano and Art Taylor drums. Debut issued the music over several LPs under the name Jazz Workshop; this is the first volume, with three long pieces. It is a jam on a grand scale, four of the best trombones in New York trading phrases, and it shows Mingus using his label to catch a live event as it happened.
Start with
- Move
- Stardust
- Yesterdays
"Move" is a fast bebop tune where the four trombones chase each other through the choruses; try to tell the voices apart. "Stardust" and "Yesterdays" are ballads where each player gets room. Under it all, the bass and Taylor's drums keep a long, live set moving.
In the band
Willie Dennis · trombone
Willie Dennis was born William DeBerardinis and studied with Lennie Tristano from 1951, working as an attendant at the Museum of Modern Art to make ends meet. He was known for very fast articulation, using the trombone's harmonics with little use of the slide. He toured with Mingus in 1956 and played on two of his 1959 records, then worked with Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman and Gerry Mulligan. He died in 1965.
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Two bass players, one on cello
The New Oscar Pettiford Sextet Oscar Pettiford And His Jazz Groups · Debut DLP-8 · 1954
On December 29, 1953, Oscar Pettiford, the other great bassist of the bebop years, made a record for Debut. Pettiford had taken up the cello while recovering from a broken arm, and here he plays it on four tracks, leaving the bass to Mingus. Julius Watkins plays French horn, Phil Urso tenor, Walter Bishop Jr. piano and Percy Brice drums. AllMusic's Rick Anderson praises Pettiford's writing, calling "The Pendulum At Falcon's Lair" world-class bebop. Two rival bassists on one session, one of them on the other's label, is a rare thing.
Start with
- The Pendulum At Falcon's Lair
- Jack, The Fieldstalker
- Stockholm Sweetnin'
Listen to Pettiford's cello as a solo voice, tuned like a bass but an octave higher, with Mingus walking underneath. "Stockholm Sweetnin'" is a Quincy Jones tune. Watkins's French horn gives the front line a soft, rounded sound. On "Tamalpais", the one track Mingus sits out, Pettiford is back on bass, so you can hear the difference.
In the band
Oscar Pettiford · bass
Oscar Pettiford, from Okmulgee, Oklahoma, was one of the first bassists to play bebop, working with Gillespie and Ellington in the 1940s. Christian McBride called him probably the most important bass player of that generation. He made his first cello records in 1950. In his last years he lived in Copenhagen, where he died in 1960, at 37.
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Thad Jones's first record
The Fabulous Thad Jones Thad Jones Quintet · Debut DLP-12 · 1954
On August 11, 1954, Thad Jones made his first record as a leader, for Debut, at Van Gelder's. The quintet had Frank Wess on tenor and flute, Jones's brother Hank on piano, Mingus and Kenny Clarke. Three of the six tunes are Jones's, two are standards, and "Chazzanova" is Mingus's. AllMusic's Scott Yanow hears Jones's style as accessible yet unpredictable. A few months earlier he had joined Count Basie. Debut later reissued the session on a 12-inch LP with four more tracks.
Start with
- Elusive (as Illusive)
- Chazzanova
- You Don't Know What Love Is
On "Elusive", listen to Jones's lines turn where you don't expect. "Chazzanova" is Mingus's tune, a short piece for the whole quintet. "You Don't Know What Love Is" is a ballad where Hank Jones's piano shows why he was so much in demand.
In the band
Hank Jones · piano
Hank Jones was the eldest of the three Jones brothers from Pontiac, Michigan, older than Thad and Elvin. He became one of the most recorded pianists in jazz, admired for his lyrical, flawless touch. He is on Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else, and in 1962 he played as Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy. He kept performing into his 90s.
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Third stream with Teddy Charles
Evolution Teddy Charles, Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, Charlie Mingus, Shelly Manne · Prestige PRLP 7078 · 1957
On January 6, 1955, the vibraphonist Teddy Charles recorded a quartet for Prestige at Van Gelder's with J.R. Monterose on tenor, Mingus on bass and Gerry Segal on drums. Prestige put those six tracks together with a 1953 Los Angeles session with Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre on this LP. AllMusic's Scott Yanow calls Charles an important figure in the early Third Stream movement, which mixed jazz with classical music, and recommends the record. A year later, Monterose would join Mingus's own band.
Start with
- Relaxo-Abstracto
- Jay Walkin'
- I Can't Get Started
"Relaxo-Abstracto" is Charles's own. "Jay Walkin'" is Monterose's tune. "I Can't Get Started", at seven minutes, is a long ballad where you can follow how vibes and bass share the harmony with no piano. With Monterose the only horn, it is a lean, open group.
In the band
Teddy Charles · vibes
Teddy Charles was born Theodore Cohen in Massachusetts and studied percussion at Juilliard, changing his name in 1951. He wrote polytonal music for small groups in the 1950s and worked as a studio player for Miles Davis and Mingus. From the mid-1950s he worked mostly as a producer. Later in life he captained a schooner off Long Island.
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Hazel Scott's trio
Relaxed Piano Moods Hazel Scott · Debut DLP-16 · 1955
On January 21, 1955, the pianist Hazel Scott recorded six tunes at Van Gelder's for Debut, with Mingus and Max Roach. Mingus and Roach had played in the band on her 1950 television show, the first in the U.S. hosted by a Black American. Critics now rate it her best record. NPR's Murray Horwitz called it one of the best piano trios ever recorded. Most of it is quiet, and the bass and drums mostly support her, with short solo breaks.
Start with
- Like Someone In Love
- Lament
- A Foggy Day
Listen to Scott's touch: she was as much at home in classical music as in jazz. "Lament" is J.J. Johnson's ballad. On "A Foggy Day", hear Mingus and Roach in the four- and eight-bar breaks reviewers point to, and otherwise keeping the tempo light and steady.
In the band
Hazel Scott · piano
Hazel Scott was born in Trinidad in 1920 and won a Juilliard scholarship at eight. She starred at Café Society and in Hollywood films, refusing roles as a maid. In 1950 she became the first Black American to host her own TV show, which was cancelled after she testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. She later lived in Paris for some years.
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Behind Little Jimmy Scott
Very Truly Yours Jimmy Scott · Savoy MG 12027 · 1956
On February 5, 1955, the singer Jimmy Scott recorded four songs for Savoy in New York, with Budd Johnson on tenor, Mundell Lowe on guitar, the arranger Howard Biggs at the piano, Mingus on bass and Rudy Nichols on drums. This was Scott's first album for Savoy, put together from that date and three later sessions. It's Mingus as a hired bass player on a ballad record, the sort of job that paid the rent. Scott and Mingus had both passed through Lionel Hampton's band.
Start with
- When Did You Leave Heaven
- Guilty
- Why Don't You Open Your Heart
Listen to Scott's high, slow phrasing, often well behind the beat. On "When Did You Leave Heaven" and "Guilty", hear how the band, Mingus included, has to wait for him. Budd Johnson's tenor is the other voice to follow. These four songs are all of Mingus's part on the record.
In the band
Jimmy Scott · vocal
Jimmy Scott had Kallmann syndrome, a rare condition that left him short and with a high, unusual voice. Lionel Hampton named him "Little Jimmy Scott", and he sang the 1950 hit "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" with Hampton without a label credit. His career faded in the 1960s, and he made a comeback in the 1990s. Billie Holiday and Ray Charles were among his admirers.
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Sharing the bill with Thad Jones
Jazz Collaborations Vol. I Thad Jones, Charles Mingus · Debut DLP-17 · 1955
Seven months after his first record, Thad Jones was back at Debut. On March 10, 1955, the sleeve named Mingus beside him: a quartet with the pianist John Dennis and Max Roach on drums. Jones had joined Count Basie's orchestra the year before, and would be with Basie until 1963. The tunes are two of his originals, "One More" and "More Of The Same", plus two standards. It is a small record, four tracks on a 10-inch LP, and a reminder that the Debut years were as much about other people's music as Mingus's own.
Start with
- I Can't Get Started
- One More (edited version)
- More Of The Same
"I Can't Get Started" is a ballad where you can follow Jones's warm, slightly unpredictable lines over Mingus's bass. "One More" and "More Of The Same" are Jones's own tunes. Listen to Roach and Mingus together, two Debut partners working behind a guest.
In the band
Thad Jones · trumpet
Thad Jones came from a Pontiac, Michigan family of musicians; his brothers were the pianist Hank Jones and the drummer Elvin Jones. He joined Count Basie in May 1954, played the famous solo on "April In Paris", and wrote many of the band's arrangements. In 1965 he and drummer Mel Lewis started the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, which played Monday nights at the Village Vanguard for 12 years. He came back to lead the Basie band in 1985.
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A 20-minute all-star blues
Metronome All-Stars 1956 George Wallington Solo · Clef MGC-743 · 1956
On June 18, 1956, at Fine Sound in New York, the Metronome All-Stars, players picked from the magazine's annual poll, recorded for the last time. Mingus was the bassist on one track, a 20-minute "Billie's Bounce", the Charlie Parker blues. Beside him were Thad Jones, Eddie Bert, Lee Konitz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Serge Chaloff, Tony Scott, Teddy Charles, Tal Farlow, Billy Taylor and Art Blakey. The rest of the LP is Count Basie's band with Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams. AllMusic calls it exciting and joyful. It's a snapshot of Mingus as one of the first-call bassists of 1956.
Start with
- Billie's Bounce
It's a long string of solos over a blues, one player after another. Listen for the change of colors as clarinet, baritone, alto and vibes take their turns, and for Mingus and Blakey under all of them, keeping a 20-minute jam moving.
In the band
Lee Konitz · alto sax
Lee Konitz was a Chicago alto saxophonist and a student of Lennie Tristano. He played on Miles Davis's Birth Of The Cool sessions, and was one of the few altoists of his time not to sound like Charlie Parker, with long, cool lines and odd accents. He kept changing for 60 more years, working with Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Elvin Jones and many younger players.
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A last word from Teddy Charles
Word From Bird Teddy Charles · Atlantic LP 1274 · 1957
End with Mingus as a hired bassist for a friend's experiments. On November 12, 1956, the vibraphonist Teddy Charles recorded four tracks for Atlantic with Hall Overton on piano, Mingus and Ed Shaughnessy. Atlantic paired them with two tracks from October 23 by a larger band. AllMusic calls the result enjoyable. By this point Mingus had made Pithecanthropus Erectus for the same label and was leading his own Jazz Workshop, but he still played on other people's records, and this quiet quartet date is a good one.
Start with
- Blue Greens
- Laura
- Just One Of Those Things
"Blue Greens" is Charles's long piece, almost 12 minutes: follow how the quartet keeps it moving. "Laura" and "Just One Of Those Things" are standards, one slow, one quick. Listen to Overton's piano and the vibes sharing the space above the bass.
In the band
Hall Overton · piano
Hall Overton was a Michigan-born composer who studied at Juilliard and taught there. He wrote symphonies and an opera, and played jazz piano in the clubs. From 1954 he lived in the Jazz Loft at 821 Sixth Avenue, where musicians jammed all night. He was Teddy Charles's mentor, and in 1959 he arranged Thelonious Monk's music for his Town Hall concert.
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Sources

Bass and piano, 1951

Baron Fingus

Mingus at the piano for Miles

Four trombones in Brooklyn

Two bass players, one on cello

Thad Jones's first record

Third stream with Teddy Charles

Hazel Scott's trio

Behind Little Jimmy Scott

Sharing the bill with Thad Jones

A 20-minute all-star blues

A last word from Teddy Charles

That's all 12.