Charles Mingus Music

This film is a trip for the true Mingus wanna-be. It is certainly not overly accessible, but please don't pass this by if you want to view Mr. Mingus in his own context. I loved every minute of this experience, especially chanting the poems along w/ the whole audience at the theatre I saw it in. For those who can't get enough of Mingus it's a treat.

This DVD is an expanded version of a section of "Triumph of the Underdog". Basically, it is a documentary centering on Mingus' eviction from his appartment in Greenwich Village. I was dissapointed with it since it contains very little music and I had already watched "Triumph of the Underdog".

As a documentary, this is a mess. As a concert film, it isn't long enough. As an example of cinema concrète, well, who knows...

Interview bits with Mingus in his loft apartment are spliced with club concert footage. The interviews are mostly monologues, as Mingus spews free associative stream of consciousness juju, at one point firing his shotgun into the apartment's ceiling. Later, as he's being evicted for nonpayment of rent, he wishes aloud for the Red Chinese "to blow you people up." The concert material is worth watching, of course, for the opportunity to see the late master at work. But you might want to be charitable and skip the rest, unless The Ever Popular Addled Artist Effect has strong charms for you.

This film is a trip for the true Mingus wanna-be. It is certainly not overly accessible, but please don't pass this by if you want to view Mr. Mingus in his own context. I loved every minute of this experience, especially chanting the poems along w/ the whole audience at the theatre I saw it in. For those who can't get enough of Mingus it's a treat.

This DVD is an expanded version of a section of "Triumph of the Underdog". Basically, it is a documentary centering on Mingus' eviction from his appartment in Greenwich Village. I was dissapointed with it since it contains very little music and I had already watched "Triumph of the Underdog".

As a documentary, this is a mess. As a concert film, it isn't long enough. As an example of cinema concrète, well, who knows...

Interview bits with Mingus in his loft apartment are spliced with club concert footage. The interviews are mostly monologues, as Mingus spews free associative stream of consciousness juju, at one point firing his shotgun into the apartment's ceiling. Later, as he's being evicted for nonpayment of rent, he wishes aloud for the Red Chinese "to blow you people up." The concert material is worth watching, of course, for the opportunity to see the late master at work. But you might want to be charitable and skip the rest, unless The Ever Popular Addled Artist Effect has strong charms for you.