Charles Mingus Music

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Classic Mingus. Recommended for jazz fans and those new to the genre. If you're starting a jazz collection, put this album high on the list.

An essential part of jazz history. The compositions and playing of this group, especially the presence of tenor Booker Ervin, are bound to remain one of the most important contributions to the jazz idiom.

This is the CD you should buy if you're new to Mingus. It came out during a highly creative period in his life, and contains some of his most memorable compostions. Ah Um may not be his most ambitious album or his best, but it is one of his most well rounded and diverse, showing many of the styles, quirks and facets that make Charles Mingus one of the top jazz composers of all time. And it's all laid out in easily digestable morsels, ie some of the songs were edited to make them more concise and able to fit on vinyl. Don't worry, the edits are not noticable. Is it bop? Is it post bop? Is it swing? Well, yes and no. Mingus looks not only to big bands, bebop, and hard bop circa 1959, but also gospel, spirituals, pre-jazz and the blues for inspiration. Ah Um is as diverse and eclectic as it is enjoyable. It points the way to the many directions Mingus was exploring or would explore in his later career. Ah Um is a wonderful look into the music of a great mind and is by turns angry, sad, tender, sarcastic, joyful and damn good. You can feel the passion.

you get a breath of fresh air. its like opening the windows for the first time after a long winter. you've experienced the same thing maybe before but it just feels new.
thats what this disc is to me. i'm not gonna get into technical stuff because i cant. i'll say this tho. in my long ago past i was a horn player. this disc makes me remember exactly what that means. i hear things in here i long ago had forgotten existed in music theory. listening to this after thinking of modern day pop is like comparing picasso to a childs chalk drawing on the sidewalk.

This is Charles Mingus' best and most musically accessible alsbum. Recorded in 1959, it is soul stirring, great hard bebop with some fantastic sax playing by the great Booker Ervin. If you are into jazz, then this is an essential addition to your collection. I can never get tired of hearing this CD.

Charles Mingus takes a quintet (plus Bud Powell on one song) through a top-notch set on this CD. The band is on fire pretty much throughout. The only exception is "What Love?" which I don't like as much as the others. Ted Curson plays his heart out on trumpet, Eric Dolphy is his usual off-center self, and Booker Ervin is good form. Bud Powell doesn't just sit in on "I'll Remember April", his long solo is the centerpiece of the song. "Folk Forms" ends with yells and saxes sounding like Indian war calls. I'm sure the "Better Git Hit", the closer, had the audience rolling down the aisle speaking in tongues (or at least in French).

Any Mingus fan should buy this CD. Maybe the only two better are "Mingus Ah Um" and "Blues & Roots". They were recorded in 1959, this was recorded in 1960 - it was obviously a high point in his career.

One of the several Mingus works I'd describe as near-essential, not to mention probably his greatest live album ever. The group is a quintet, including key Mingus associates like the legendary Eric Dolphy and tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin (who played on Mingus Ah Um). You'd expect this to have a free-jazz influence, given Dolphy's presence, but that's not prominent (though it certainly shows up on "Better Get It In Yo' Soul", more specifically Dolph's playing): this leans more towards Mingus' rootsy, gospel-blues approach to jazz. There are even two takes on standards ("What Love?", a slightly revised "What Is This Thing Called Love?"; "April in Paris", which feels very out-of-place and is easily the weakest song on the album). Most of that are Mingus' gospel-blues concert standards like "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting"; "Folk Forms Number 1" and "Better Get It In Yo' Soul" - all are played with Mingus' characteristic enthusiasm, all reveal the man's compositional brilliance, and the former is the album's top song, though "What Love?" deserves top honors too for the bass solo alone. If that weren't enough for you, the playing on this album is superb: just listen to the sax solo on "Better Get It In Yo' Soul"! Antibes isn't my favorite Mingus album like it used to be, but it's still a key part of the man's huge catalogue.

This has got to be one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded, jazz, rock, classical whatever. I have had it since I was in high school in the 1980s and I have never stopped listening to it and it never fails to completely sweep me off my feet and knock the wind out of me.

In 1960, Charles Mingus began experimenting with pianoles groups. This live performance, from the summer of 1960, finds Mingus accompanied by two reeds (Eric Dolphy on alto, Booker Ervin on tenor), one trumpet (Ted Curson) and his usual rhythm section partner in drummer Dannie Richmond. It was often felt that the lack of piano allowed the rest of the band to really cut loose. In this case, its certainly true.

Mingus' frontline wastes no time going on a tear, with stunning solos by Ervin ("Prayer for Passive Resistence"), Curson ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting") and Dolphy (just about everything) as each tune ends up becoming extended during long improvs. What's amazing is that even material I consider to be somewhat less interestng ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" always sounded like a weak version of "Better Git Hit In Your Soul" to me) catches fire with Curson's fluid and agile solo setting the stage for jaw-dropping soloing from Dolphy who just really cuts loose (Dolphy was several months away from participating in Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz"-- its really quite no wonder he participated in that session, given his fierce soloing here). And while "What Love" would receive a better reading (remarkably in the studio on "Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus") just a few months later, it certainly is a treat to hear Mingus and Dolphy dueling on bass and bass clarinet.

And speaking of treats, the band is joined by piano legend Bud Powell for a lovely take through "I'll Remember April" that if the rest of the record wasn't enough would certainly make this worth investigation.

In all, one of the really great live Mingus recordings. Highly recommended.

Where to start? Listening to this album, I wonder if I would have been able to prevent myself from fainting had I been present at Juan les Pins seeing Mingus live. You see, the urgency, the virtuosity, the volatile elements that Mingus so effortlessly combines here make for some intense and challenging listening. And, when I say virtuosity, I mean it in both ways - individually and collectively. Every musician here is a master of his instrument, yet the almost telepathic communication between them is nothing short of miraculous. On "Better Git Hit in your soul", the band shifts tempos, meters and feels, and sections where the clapping of the band members is the only accompaniment, while the soloists soar in the stratosphere. The effect on me is incredible, even physical - I have stopped breathing sometimes! I wonder if Dolphy is even human. His playing here is pure fire, an incessant barrage of sound that never sounds repetitive and ignites the band to indescribable heights. Yet, he can also be pensive without losing his edge, as he does in "What Love?" - his trialogue with Mingus and Danny must be heard to be believed. Bass and bass clarinet dancing together like a choreographed couple, yet it is improvised. I don't want to ramble on. Just get this if you like Jazz or just creative music by creative musicians. You will be challenged. You will be moved. You will be swept off your feet. You will be different.