Charles Mingus · I know the classics

Beyond the classics: Mingus

You know the Atlantic, Columbia and Impulse! classics. This path goes back to the Debut and workshop years, when Mingus ran his own label and played with everyone, then on to the lesser-known bands of 1957 and the Candid sessions of 1960.

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The trio set at Massey Hall
Jazz At Massey Hall Vol. 2 Bud Powell Trio · Debut DLP-3 · 1953
You know the quintet record from Toronto. The same night, May 15, 1953, Bud Powell, Mingus and Max Roach played a set as a trio, and Debut put it out on its own 10-inch volume. Powell had only been released from psychiatric hospital that year and was living under the guardianship of Birdland's owner, Oscar Goodstein, yet this is clear, strong playing. The LP ends with something else: "Bass-Ically Speaking", cut in New York later that summer with Billy Taylor at the piano and Art Taylor on drums. It's a good place to start the next layer, with Mingus as the third man in a great piano trio.
Start with
- Cherokee
- Sure Thing
- Bass-Ically Speaking
On "Cherokee", listen to how Mingus and Roach keep the floor steady under his right hand. "Sure Thing" is one of Powell's own tunes. "Bass-Ically Speaking", from the later New York date, is, as the title says, a feature for the bass.
In the band
Bud Powell · piano
Bud Powell was the pianist who turned bebop's horn lines into piano language, with long fast right-hand lines over sparse left-hand chords. By 1953 he had spent long stretches in hospitals after a police beating, arrests and electroshock treatment, and the medication he took affected his playing. Nights like this show what he could still do. In 1959 he moved to Paris, where he lived and worked for five years.
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A label for new players
Introducing Paul Bley Paul Bley Trio · Debut DLP-7 · 1954
Mingus started Debut to record young musicians nobody else would. On November 30, 1953, he brought a 21-year-old Canadian pianist into a New York studio with himself on bass and Art Blakey on drums, and produced his first record. Debut issued it on 10-inch LP the next year. Paul Bley had studied at Juilliard and had run a jazz workshop in Montreal, where he got Charlie Parker to come and play. The Penguin Guide to Jazz calls the record an astonishing debut on which Bley sounds cautious on the standards but sure of his technique. For Mingus it is the label doing exactly what he said it would.
Start with
- Opus I
- Spontaneous Combustion
- Like Someone In Love
Listen to Mingus and Blakey as a team behind a newcomer, both of them used to pushing hard. The Penguin Guide hears Bley cautious on standards like "Like Someone In Love" and sure of his technique throughout; set that beside the less familiar titles, "Opus I" and "Spontaneous Combustion". Notice how much room the bass gets.
In the band
Paul Bley · piano
Paul Bley was born in Montreal in 1932 and had played with touring American bands as a teenager. After this record he worked in trios through the 1950s and moved toward free jazz; in the 1960s he became one of its leading pianists, and he later made some of the first live performances on Moog synthesizers. He worked with Mingus again in 1960. His solo piano records ran into the 2000s.
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On Blue Note with J.J.
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1 J.J. Johnson · Blue Note BLP 1505 · 1956
On September 24, 1954, Mingus went to Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack for a Blue Note date led by the trombonist J.J. Johnson. It was a quintet with one horn: Johnson, Wynton Kelly on piano, Mingus, Kenny Clarke on drums and Sabu Martinez on conga. The tunes came out on a 10-inch LP, then on this 12-inch record in 1956, where they fill side two after a 1953 sextet with Clifford Brown on side one. Mingus does not lead anything here. He is a working bassist in the best company of the day, on a record the Penguin Guide calls one of the central documents of post-war jazz.
Start with
- Old Devil Moon
- Jay
- Coffee Pot
Leonard Feather, in the original notes, points to Mingus setting up the opening vamp on "Old Devil Moon". "Jay" is Johnson's fast blues that changes key. On "Coffee Pot", which closes the record, listen to Martinez's conga beside Clarke's drums and the bass.
In the band
J.J. Johnson · trombone
J.J. Johnson was the trombonist who showed the instrument could play bebop at full speed. In 1952 he stepped away from music to work as a blueprint inspector for Sperry Gyroscope. By 1954 he was back, and that August, a month before this session, he started a two-trombone quintet with Kai Winding. From the mid-1950s he topped the jazz polls year after year.
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The Jazz Composers Workshop
Jazz Composers Workshop (No. 2) Charlie Mingus, Wally Cirillo, Teo Macero, John La Porta · Savoy MG 12059 · 1956
In the early 1950s Mingus ran a workshop of composers who wanted to bring jazz and modern classical writing together. On October 31, 1954, he took a band from it to Van Gelder's: John LaPorta, Teo Macero and George Barrow on reeds, Mal Waldron on piano and Rudy Nichols on drums. Savoy first issued those tracks as The Moods Of Mingus. This LP adds four pieces by the pianist Wally Cirillo from a January 1955 date with Macero, Mingus and Kenny Clarke. AllMusic's Scott Yanow hears Mingus looking toward contemporary classical music here, a year before he found his own way. It is the cool, written-out start of the Jazz Workshop.
Start with
- Purple Heart
- Gregarian Chant
- Eulogy For Rudy Williams
Listen to the reeds: LaPorta's clarinet, Macero's tenor and Barrow's baritone, voiced together in a cool, written way quite unlike the shouting bands to come. "Gregarian Chant" is under three minutes; "Eulogy For Rudy Williams" stretches out over six. Try to hear where the writing stops and the soloing starts.
In the band
Teo Macero · tenor sax
Teo Macero studied composition at Juilliard and, in 1953, helped Mingus found the Jazz Composers Workshop. He played tenor and baritone in it and recorded his own first album for Debut. In 1957 he joined Columbia as a producer and stayed for decades. He brought Mingus to the label and produced Mingus Ah Um. He also produced much of Miles Davis's Columbia catalog, cutting and splicing In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew into shape.
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Jazz that sounds like chamber music
The Jazz Experiments Of Charlie Mingus Charlie Mingus Sextet · Bethlehem BCP-65 · 1957
Two months later, in December 1954, the workshop circle made two 10-inch LPs for the small Period label, called Jazzical Moods and co-credited to John LaPorta. Bethlehem later put them together on this LP. The sound is odd for jazz: a cello, a clarinet, Teo Macero's saxes, a drummer playing tambourine, and Thad Jones on trumpet, billed on the first issue as "Oliver King". Mingus plays some piano as well as bass. AllMusic's Heather Phares hears jazz and classical forms mixed into a cool sound, and Mingus's compositional skill. Put it next to the last step and you can hear him searching.
Start with
- Minor Intrusion
- Thrice Upon A Theme
- What Is This Thing Called Love
"Minor Intrusion" and "Thrice Upon A Theme" are the AllMusic review's picks: listen for how the cello and clarinet sit beside the brass. "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a standard Mingus kept going back to; Clem DeRosa's tambourine is one of the odd touches on the date.
In the band
John LaPorta · alto sax
John LaPorta was from Philadelphia and had played clarinet with Woody Herman's band in the mid-1940s. From 1947 he studied with Lennie Tristano, and with Mingus and Macero he joined the Jazz Composers Workshop. He was equally at home in the classical world, working with Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky. Later in life he became a teacher.
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Miles on Mingus's label
Blue Moods Miles Davis · Debut DEB-120 · 1956
On July 9, 1955, Miles Davis made a record for Debut at Van Gelder's. It was an unusual band: Britt Woodman on trombone, Teddy Charles on vibes, Mingus and the drummer Elvin Jones, with no piano or saxophone. Mingus arranged "Alone Together"; Teddy Charles arranged the rest. The LP is short, because the grooves were cut wide to carry the bass. AllMusic's Alex Henderson calls it an excellent example of cool jazz. Davis was about to sign with Columbia and form his great quintet; this is one of the last records from before that turn.
Start with
- Alone Together
- Nature Boy
- There's No You
"Alone Together" is Mingus's arrangement: listen for the trombone and vibes against Davis's muted trumpet. "Nature Boy" is the opener. With no piano, listen for how the vibes fill the space between the horns and the bass, and for Elvin Jones, then little known, on brushes and sticks.
In the band
Britt Woodman · trombone
Britt Woodman was a childhood friend of Mingus from Los Angeles. He played with Lionel Hampton from 1946 and through most of the 1950s was in Duke Ellington's trombone section, heard on Such Sweet Thunder. He left Ellington in 1960 and went on to work with Mingus, and in 1989 he played in the first full performance of Epitaph, Mingus's huge score found after his death.
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With Bill Evans at the piano
East Coasting By Charlie Mingus Charlie Mingus Sextet · Bethlehem BCP-6019 · 1957
Two years later Mingus had a working band, with Jimmy Knepper, Shafi Hadi and Dannie Richmond, and a new trumpeter, Clarence Shaw. On August 16, 1957, he recorded them for Bethlehem with a guest at the piano: Bill Evans, then little known. AllMusic's Scott Yanow calls it one of Mingus's lesser-known band sessions and well worth having. Five tunes are Mingus's, plus Eubie Blake's "Memories Of You". "Celia" shares its name with his wife at the time, who ran the business side of Debut.
Start with
- Celia
- West Coast Ghost
- Memories Of You
On "Celia", follow the piece from theme to solos and listen for Evans behind the horns. "West Coast Ghost" is the longest track, more than ten minutes. Through the record Shaw plays with a Harmon mute, which he had been wary of because it sounded so much like Miles Davis.
In the band
Bill Evans · piano
Bill Evans was from Plainfield, New Jersey, and had studied classical piano and composition before moving to New York in 1955. He was working with the composer George Russell when he made this date. A year later he joined Miles Davis's sextet, and in 1959 he played on Kind Of Blue. His own trio, with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, changed how a piano, bass and drums could listen to each other.
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Music and a voice from the city
A Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry With Charlie Mingus Charlie Mingus Orchestra · Bethlehem BCP-6026 · 1958
Two months later, in October 1957, the same horns and drummer made a second Bethlehem record, with Bob Hammer and Horace Parlan sharing the piano. Despite its title there is no poetry on it. "Scenes In The City" has a spoken story, read by Mel Stewart and written by Lonne Elder III with some help from Langston Hughes: Mingus's portrait of the city. The other pieces are pure Mingus. Three of them, "Nourog", "Duke's Choice" and "Slippers", he later folded into his "Open Letter To Duke". The Penguin Guide calls this a chance for Mingus to experiment with texts and pure sound.
Start with
- Scenes In The City
- New York Sketchbook
- Duke's Choice
"Scenes In The City" moves between Stewart's voice and the band's comments on the story. On "New York Sketchbook", the Penguin Guide hears Clarence Shaw's playing as the best trumpet on a Mingus album for years either side. "Duke's Choice" is an Ellington tribute; you may recognize it.
In the band
Clarence Shaw · trumpet
Clarence Shaw, sometimes billed as Gene Shaw, was from Detroit and had taken up the trumpet after hearing Dizzy Gillespie while recovering from war injuries. He moved to New York in 1956 and joined Mingus the next year. Later in 1957, after a fight with Mingus, he destroyed his horn and quit music; he didn't play again until 1962. He was also a longtime student of Gurdjieff's Fourth Way teachings.
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A tribute to Duke
Mingus Dynasty Charles Mingus And His Jazz Groups · Columbia CL 1440 · 1960
In November 1959, six months after Mingus Ah Um, Mingus went back to Columbia for a companion record. The title puns on the Ming dynasty and his own partly Chinese ancestry. The band was bigger and changed from track to track: Benny Golson and Jerome Richardson, Teddy Charles on vibes, two cellists on two tunes. Two pieces are Ellington's world: "Mood Indigo" and Mercer Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used To Be". "Gunslinging Bird" had a much longer original title, about how many dead copycats there would be if Charlie Parker had been a gunslinger. Columbia trimmed several performances for the LP. It's the record where Mingus's love of Ellington shows plainest.
Start with
- Mood Indigo
- Gunslinging Bird
- Far Wells, Mill Valley
Compare the two bands. "Gunslinging Bird" and "Far Wells, Mill Valley" use the larger one, with Benny Golson, Jerome Richardson, Richard Williams and Teddy Charles's vibes adding colors. "Mood Indigo", from the second date, is a smaller group with Don Ellis on trumpet, and a long, slow look at an Ellington ballad.
In the band
Jimmy Knepper · trombone
Jimmy Knepper was from Los Angeles, a big-band trombonist who had worked for Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton. He loved Charlie Parker enough to name his children Robin and Jay after "Bird". With Mingus from 1957 he was one of the core voices of the band. Their working life was stormy: in 1962 Mingus punched him while they worked on a score, breaking a tooth and costing him the top of his range for a long time. In the 1970s the two made peace and played together again.
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The Candid sessions, bigger
Mingus Charles Mingus Quartet · Candid CJM 8021 · 1961
Mingus's 1960 quartet with Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond made a second Candid record, issued in late 1961. This one mixes the quartet with a larger band. "Stormy Weather", from the quartet date of October 20, 1960, runs more than 13 minutes. "Lock 'Em Up", from November 11 with a bigger group drawn from players such as Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper and the young altoist Charles McPherson, comes from Mingus's stay at Bellevue, the New York psychiatric hospital, which he wrote about in his autobiography, Beneath The Underdog. Here is Mingus between the free quartet and the big band, at the height of his Candid freedom.
Start with
- Stormy Weather (take 1)
- Lock 'Em Up
On "Stormy Weather", listen to how the quartet takes its time with the old Harold Arlen song, with Dolphy's reeds and Curson's trumpet over Mingus and Richmond. "Lock 'Em Up", subtitled "Hellview Of Bellevue", is under seven minutes: set its larger band against the quartet.
In the band
Charlie McPherson · alto sax
Charles McPherson was 21, born in Joplin, Missouri, and raised in Detroit. He came out of the Detroit scene that produced so many players of the 1950s, and recorded with the pianist Barry Harris. He joined Mingus in 1960 and worked with him off and on until 1974. In 1988 he helped record ensemble versions of Charlie Parker's music for the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood's film Bird.
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The Newport rebels
Newport Rebels Jazz Artists Guild · Candid CJM 8022 · 1961
In the summer of 1960 Mingus and Max Roach, angry at what the Newport Jazz Festival paid musicians, ran their own festival nearby at Cliff Walk Manor. The official festival was shut down by riots; theirs went on without incident. That autumn the musicians recorded this studio album for Candid as the Jazz Artists Guild. Mingus plays on three of the five tracks, all from November 11, 1960, with Roy Eldridge, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Knepper, Tommy Flanagan and Jo Jones. It is a meeting of swing-era players and the new generation, made as an act of protest.
Start with
- Mysterious Blues
- Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (take 5)
- Me And You
"Mysterious Blues" is Mingus's tune: listen to how Eldridge, a swing-era trumpeter, sits beside Dolphy. "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" is a short, old-fashioned ballad. "Me And You" is a loose jam credited to Mingus, Eldridge, Flanagan and Jo Jones. Down Beat found the date too loose; you can judge for yourself.
In the band
Roy Eldridge · trumpet
Roy Eldridge, "Little Jazz", was the trumpeter between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie: in the 1930s and 1940s his fast, harmonically daring playing was what young Gillespie learned from. He had worked with Fletcher Henderson, Gene Krupa and Artie Shaw. By 1960 he was 49 and a swing-era star, which makes his presence among the rebels telling.
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Two sessions, saved for later
Tonight At Noon Charlie Mingus · Atlantic LP 1416 · 1965
Atlantic put this record together in the mid-1960s from music left over from two sessions you know well: two pieces from the March 1957 Clown sessions, with Shafi Hadi, Jimmy Knepper and Wade Legge, and three from the November 1961 Oh Yeah date, with Roland Kirk and Booker Ervin. AllMusic's Thom Jurek hears blues with European harmonies on the first session, and a nocturnal, Ellington-like elegance on the second. Despite its patchwork origins, he writes, it holds plenty of magic. It's a good place to end this layer: two of Mingus's best bands, side by side, on a record most people never heard.
Start with
- Tonight At Noon
- Passions Of A Woman Loved
- Peggy's Blue Skylight
"Tonight At Noon" is the fast 1957 piece Jurek singles out for its hard-bop tempo. "Passions Of A Woman Loved" is the long one, nearly ten minutes. "Peggy's Blue Skylight", from 1961, runs almost ten minutes too. Compare the two bands and their drummer, Dannie Richmond, on both.
In the band
Curtis Porter · tenor
Curtis Porter, better known as Shafi Hadi, was from Philadelphia and had played with R&B acts such as Ruth Brown before joining Mingus in 1956. He stayed until 1958 and came back in 1959. The biographer Brian Priestley described his style as a mixture of bop and blues with a very individual tone. He also improvised music for John Cassavetes's film Shadows.
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Sources

The trio set at Massey Hall

A label for new players

On Blue Note with J.J.

The Jazz Composers Workshop

Jazz that sounds like chamber music

Miles on Mingus's label

With Bill Evans at the piano

Music and a voice from the city

A tribute to Duke

The Candid sessions, bigger

The Newport rebels

Two sessions, saved for later

That's all 12.