User:Foraproject/sandbox

Charles Mingus
Performance for the U.S. Bicentennial, New York City, July 4, 1976 Photo by Tom Marcello
Background information
Birth name	Charles Mingus Jr.
Born	(1922-04-22)April 22, 1922 US Army Base in Nogales, Arizona, United States
Origin	Los Angeles, United States
Died	January 5, 1979(1979-01-05) (aged 56) Cuernavaca, Mexico
Genres	Jazz, hard bop, bebop, avant-garde jazz, post-bop, Third Stream, orchestral jazz, free jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, bandleader
Instrument(s)	Double bass, piano, cello
Years active	1943–1979
Labels	Atlantic, Candid, Columbia, Debut, Impulse!, Mercury, United Artists
Website	www.mingusmingusmingus.com

Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader. His compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop, drawing heavily from black gospel music and blues, while sometimes containing elements of Third Stream, free jazz, and classical music. He once cited Duke Ellington and church as his main influences.

Mingus espoused collective improvisation, similar to the old New Orleans jazz parades, paying particular attention to how each band member interacted with the group as a whole. In creating his bands, he looked not only at the skills of the available musicians, but also their personalities. Many musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. He recruited talented and sometimes little-known artists, whom he utilized to assemble unconventional instrumental configurations. As a performer, Mingus was a pioneer in double bass technique, widely recognized as one of the instrument's most proficient players.

Nearly as well known as his ambitious music was Mingus's often fearsome temperament, which earned him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz". His refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many onstage eruptions, exhortations to musicians, and dismissals. Because of his brilliant writing for midsize ensembles, and his catering to and emphasizing the strengths of the musicians in his groups, Mingus is often considered the heir of Duke Ellington, for whom he expressed great admiration. Indeed, Dizzy Gillespie had once claimed Mingus reminded him "of a young Duke", citing their shared "organizational genius".

Mingus' compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Orchestra, to the high school students who play the charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School Competition.

Gunther Schuller has suggested that Mingus should be ranked among the most important American composers, jazz or otherwise. In 1988, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts made possible the cataloging of Mingus compositions, which were then donated to the Music Division of the New York Public Library for public use. In 1993, The Library of Congress acquired Mingus's collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library's history".

Biography

Early life and career

Charles Mingus was born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona, and was later raised in in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. His early musical interests were inspired by church gospel choir and later, “hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when (he) was eight years old.” Mingus began his music career by playing the trombone and later learned to play the cello, earning a seat at the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic. However, he never pursued the cello professionally despite being naturally gifted, because of the extreme difficulty blacks faced trying to create a career performing classical music and because the cello was not accepted as a jazz instrument. His early experiences with race and injustice later served to inspire him as a jazz musician, leading to the creation of many original works. He is quoted in Central Avenue Sounds as saying, “You don’t let us join because you’re just prejudiced, that’s all. You don’t want any blacks to join the union.”

His mother allowed only church-related music in their home, but Mingus developed an early love for other music, especially Duke Ellington. He studied trombone, and later cello, although he was unable to follow the cello professionally because, at the time, it was nearly impossible for a black musician to make a career of classical music, and the cello was not yet accepted as a jazz instrument. Despite this, Mingus was still attached to the cello; as he studied bass with Red Callender in the late 1930s, Callender even commented that the cello was still Mingus's main instrument. In Beneath the Underdog, Mingus states that he did not actually start learning bass until Buddy Collette accepted him into his swing band under the stipulation that he be the band's bass player.

Due to a poor education, the young Mingus could not read musical notation quickly enough to join the local youth orchestra. This had a serious impact on his early musical experiences, leaving him feeling ostracized from the classical music world. These early experiences, in addition to his lifelong confrontations with racism, were reflected in his music, which often focused on themes of racism, discrimination and (in)justice. Much of the cello technique he learned was applicable to double bass when he took up the instrument in high school. He studied for five years with Herman Reinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with Lloyd Reese. Throughout much of his career, he played a bass made in 1927 by the German maker Ernst Heinrich Roth.

Instead of the cello, he later studied the double bass with Red Callender in the 1930s, after Buddy Collette invited Mingus into his band to play double bass. Mingus later played in Lloyd Reese’s rehearsal band, where he learned compositional techniques, all the while absorbing vernacular music from great jazz masters first-hand. Over time, Mingus gained a reputation as a bass prodigy, eventually touring with famous jazz artist Louis Armstrong in 1942. Afterwhich he spent five years learning with Herman Rheinshagen, the principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic. Later in the decade, he wrote and played for Lionel Hampton's band and toured with Red Norvo's trio. Mingus settled in New York in 1951. There he worked as a sideman, recording and performing with other jazz legends such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Miles Davis. After a few years, he formed an experimental musicians' group called the Jazz Workshop, later becoming a bandleader of his own. Beginning in his teen years, Mingus was writing quite advanced pieces; many are similar to Third Stream because they incorporate elements of classical music. A number of them were recorded in 1960 with conductor Gunther Schuller, and released as Pre-Bird, referring to Charlie "Bird" Parker; Mingus was one of many musicians whose perspectives on music were altered by Parker into "pre- and post-Bird" eras.

Mingus gained a reputation as a bass prodigy. His first major professional job was playing with former Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard. He toured with Louis Armstrong in 1943, and by early 1945 was recording in Los Angeles in a band led by Russell Jacquet, which also included Teddy Edwards, Maurice Simon, Bill Davis, and Chico Hamilton, and in May that year, in Hollywood, again with Teddy Edwards, in a band led by Howard McGhee. He then played with Lionel Hampton's band in the late 1940s; Hampton performed and recorded several of Mingus's pieces. A popular trio of Mingus, Red Norvo and Tal Farlow in 1950 and 1951 received considerable acclaim, but Mingus's race caused problems with club owners and he left the group. Mingus was briefly a member of Ellington's band in 1953, as a substitute for bassist Wendell Marshall. Mingus's notorious temper led to him being one of the few musicians personally fired by Ellington (Bubber Miley and drummer Bobby Durham are among the others), after an on-stage fight between Mingus and Juan Tizol.

Also in the early 1950s, before attaining commercial recognition as a bandleader, Mingus played gigs with Charlie Parker, whose compositions and improvisations greatly inspired and influenced him. Mingus considered Parker the greatest genius and innovator in jazz history, but he had a love-hate relationship with Parker's legacy. Mingus blamed the Parker mythology for a derivative crop of pretenders to Parker's throne. He was also conflicted and sometimes disgusted by Parker's self-destructive habits and the romanticized lure of drug addiction they offered to other jazz musicians. In response to the many sax players who imitated Parker, Mingus titled a song, "If Charlie Parker were a Gunslinger, There'd be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats" (released on Mingus Dynasty as "Gunslinging Bird").

Mingus’ style has strong roots in blues and gospel music. That being said, he is often viewed as one of the more forward-thinking and experimental jazz artists of his time. Though his style changed frequently, a few constants persevere. One of these is his distaste for flashy solos. He rarely worked with other famous musicians. With the notable exception of his albums “Newport Rebels” and “Money Jungle,” he focused on skilled and determined backing artists rather than brilliant soloists. Four fifths of his albums are credited to only “Charles Mingus.” This is especially interesting when you consider that Mingus’ instrument was the bass, which rarely is the centerpiece of a work. Charles Mingus, however, was a truly exceptional musician who was more than capable of bringing this instrument to the front and center of any work he participated in. He played forcefully, pulling the strings of his bass so hard that Buddy Collette said he needed to exercise his fingers for a full year before being able to play the bass like he did. He is most frequently associated with the Post-Bop and Third Stream movements, the former being heavily rooted in both the avant-garde and bop traditions, the latter being a term to describe jazz with western classical influences.

Based in New York

After hearing Duke Ellington one night on a radio broadcast, he knew that he had discovered his place in the jazz world. His talents in playing the double bass, piano, and cello established a movement that shifted jazz from bebop to a more avant-garde style. Mingus temporarily worked with Lionel Hampton in his band in 1970. In a few of the songs that Mingus plays in there is evidence of a compositional side of him that is struggling to be heard. Many of his compositions revolved around gospel traditions because he was exposed to African American religious music early on in his life. Mingus was renowned in his composing and improvising. Musicians such as Hampton and Miles Davis enjoyed working with Mingus because he was so innovative and artistic. Despite doing freelance work in his off time, he co-founded his own record label and created jazz workshops to expand the study of jazz. The record label did not thrive and finally met its end in 1955. Mingus wanted more time to focus on the music itself and not on recordings.

In 1952 Mingus co-founded Debut Records with Max Roach so he could conduct his recording career as he saw fit. The name originated from his desire to document unrecorded young musicians. Despite this, the best-known recording the company issued was of the most prominent figures in bebop. On May 15, 1953, Mingus joined Dizzy Gillespie, Parker, Bud Powell, and Roach for a concert at Massey Hall in Toronto, which is the last recorded documentation of Gillespie and Parker playing together. After the event, Mingus chose to overdub his barely audible bass part back in New York; the original version was issued later. The two 10" albums of the Massey Hall concert (one featured the trio of Powell, Mingus and Roach) were among Debut Records' earliest releases. Mingus may have objected to the way the major record companies treated musicians, but Gillespie once commented that he did not receive any royalties "for years and years" for his Massey Hall appearance. The records though, are often regarded as among the finest live jazz recordings.

One story has it that Mingus was involved in a notorious incident while playing a 1955 club date billed as a "reunion" with Parker, Powell, and Roach. Powell, who suffered from alcoholism and mental illness (possibly exacerbated by a severe police beating and electroshock treatments), had to be helped from the stage, unable to play or speak coherently. As Powell's incapacitation became apparent, Parker stood in one spot at a microphone, chanting "Bud Powell...Bud Powell..." as if beseeching Powell's return. Allegedly, Parker continued this incantation for several minutes after Powell's departure, to his own amusement and Mingus's exasperation. Mingus took another microphone and announced to the crowd, "Ladies and Gentleman, please don't associate me with any of this. This is not jazz. These are sick people." This was Parker's last public performance; about a week later he died after years of substance abuse.

Mingus often worked with a mid-sized ensemble (around 8–10 members) of rotating musicians known as the Jazz Workshop. Mingus broke new ground, constantly demanding that his musicians be able to explore and develop their perceptions on the spot. Those who joined the Workshop (or Sweatshops as they were colorfully dubbed by the musicians) included Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard, Booker Ervin, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper, Charles McPherson and Horace Parlan. Mingus shaped these musicians into a cohesive improvisational machine that in many ways anticipated free jazz. Some musicians dubbed the workshop a "university" for jazz.

Pithecanthropus Erectus among other recordings

This was likely Mingus’ first major work as both a writer and a composer, and he is known to have said that this was the first time he taught arrangements to his musicians by ear instead of through formal music writing.[5] The title song is a ten-minute tone poem that slips into free improvisation without structure or theme, and it was meant to be understood a “symbolic depiction of the rise and fall of a man from his hominid roots due to his failure to realize the inevitable emancipation of the people he hoped to enslave.” Translated literally, Pithecanthropus Erectus means “Upright Ape-Man.” The second part of the title track in particular was described by The Penguin Guide to Jazz as being crucial to the development of collective free improvisation in the following decade.[3]

The decade that followed is generally regarded as Mingus's most productive and fertile period. Impressive new compositions and albums appeared at an astonishing rate: some thirty records in ten years, for a number of record labels (Atlantic, Candid, Columbia, Impulse and others), a pace perhaps unmatched by any other musicians except Ellington.

Mingus had already recorded around ten albums as a bandleader, but 1956 was a breakthrough year for him, with the release of Pithecanthropus Erectus, arguably his first major work as both a bandleader and composer. Like Ellington, Mingus wrote songs with specific musicians in mind, and his band for Erectus included adventurous musicians: piano player Mal Waldron, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and the Sonny Rollins-influenced tenor of J. R. Monterose. The title song is a ten-minute tone poem, depicting the rise of man from his hominid roots (Pithecanthropus erectus) to an eventual downfall. A section of the piece was free improvisation, free of structure or theme.

Another album from this period, The Clown (1957 also on Atlantic Records), the title track of which features narration by humorist Jean Shepherd, was the first to feature drummer Dannie Richmond, who remained his preferred drummer until Mingus's death in 1979. The two men formed one of the most impressive and versatile rhythm sections in jazz. Both were accomplished performers seeking to stretch the boundaries of their music while staying true to its roots. When joined by pianist Jaki Byard, they were dubbed "The Almighty Three".

Mingus Ah Um and other works

Mingus Ah Um is now generally regarded as one of Mingus’ very best albums, with the The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD calling this album an extended tribute to ancestors. It was released in 1959, the same year as Dave Brubeck's Time Out, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Ornette Coleman's prophetic The Shape of Jazz to Come. Still, it was seen as a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," which was an elegy to Lester Young, and the vocal-less version of "Fables of Faubus," which was a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus for sending the National Guard to prevent the integration of 9 black students at a Little Rock High School.[11] Mingus Ah Um became one of fifty recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2003; it is widely regarded as one of the greatest jazz albums.

In 1959 Mingus and his jazz workshop musicians recorded one of his best-known albums, Mingus Ah Um. Even in a year of standout masterpieces, including Dave Brubeck's Time Out, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Ornette Coleman's prophetic The Shape of Jazz to Come, this was a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (an elegy to Lester Young) and the vocal-less version of "Fables of Faubus" (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus that features double-time sections). Also during 1959, Mingus recorded the album Blues & Roots, which was released the following year. As Mingus explained in his liner notes: "I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I've grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing."

Mingus witnessed Ornette Coleman's legendary—and controversial—1960 appearances at New York City's Five Spot jazz club. He initially expressed rather mixed feelings for Coleman's innovative music: "...if the free-form guys could play the same tune twice, then I would say they were playing something...Most of the time they use their fingers on the saxophone and they don't even know what's going to come out. They're experimenting." That same year, however, Mingus formed a quartet with Richmond, trumpeter Ted Curson and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. This ensemble featured the same instruments as Coleman's quartet, and is often regarded as Mingus rising to the challenging new standard established by Coleman. The quartet recorded on both Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus and Mingus. The former also features the version of "Fables of Faubus" with lyrics, aptly titled "Original Faubus Fables".

Only one misstep occurred in this era: 1962's Town Hall Concert. An ambitious program, it was plagued with troubles from its inception. Mingus's vision, now known as Epitaph, was finally realized by conductor Gunther Schuller in a concert in 1989, 10 years after Mingus's death.

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and other Impulse! albums

The album was recorded by an eleven-piece band, and Mingus referred to it as "ethnic folk-dance music." Mingus's perfectionism led to extensive use of studio overdubbing techniques.[7] The album features liner notes written by Mingus and his then-psychotherapist, Edmund Pollock. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is often characterized by jazz and music critics as one of Mingus's two major masterworks (the other being Mingus Ah Um) and has frequently ranked highly on lists of the best albums of all time. In 1963, Mingus released The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, a sprawling, multi-section masterpiece, described as "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history." The album was also unique in that Mingus asked his psychotherapist, Dr. Edmund Pollock, to provide notes for the record.

Mingus also released Mingus Plays Piano, an unaccompanied album featuring some fully improvised pieces, in 1963.

The quartet of Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond constituted Mingus's core working band at the time of this album’s production, and they had been performing the material on this album for weeks at The Showplace in New York. To recreate this atmosphere, Mingus introduces the songs as if he were speaking to the audience.[12] This album includes the “original” version of Faubus Fables as well.

In addition, 1963 saw the release of Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus, an album praised by critic Nat Hentoff.

In 1964 Mingus put together one of his best-known groups, a sextet including Dannie Richmond, Jaki Byard, Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Johnny Coles, and tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan. The group was recorded frequently during its short existence; Coles fell ill and left during a European tour. Dolphy stayed in Europe after the tour ended, and died suddenly in Berlin on June 28, 1964. 1964 was also the year that Mingus met his future wife, Sue Graham Ungaro. The couple were married in 1966 by Allen Ginsberg. Facing financial hardship, Mingus was evicted from his New York home in 1966.

Changes

Mingus's pace slowed somewhat in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1974 he formed a quintet with Richmond, pianist Don Pullen, trumpeter Jack Walrath and saxophonist George Adams. They recorded two well-received albums, Changes One and Changes Two. Mingus also played with Charles McPherson in many of his groups during this time. Cumbia and Jazz Fusion in 1976 sought to blend Colombian music (the "Cumbia" of the title) with more traditional jazz forms. In 1971, Mingus taught for a semester at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York as the Slee Professor of Music.

Later career and death

By the 1960’s though, Mingus was suffering from mental illness as well as financial difficulties. From 1967 to 1972, stricken with severe depression, he rarely appeared in public. However, he gradually recovered enough to make a comeback. Mingus was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition in 1971, and he renewed his activities as a recording artist and performer the following year. He released such albums as Let My Children Hear Music and Cumbia & Jazz Fusion during the decade. In 1977 however, Mingus was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. Seeking treatment, he was in Cuernavaca, Mexico, when he died of a heart attack on January 5, 1979.

Personality and temper

As respected as Mingus was for his musical talents, he was sometimes feared for his occasionally violent onstage temper, which was at times directed at members of his band, and other times aimed at the audience. He was physically large, prone to obesity (especially in his later years), and was by all accounts often intimidating and frightening when expressing anger or displeasure. Mingus was prone to clinical depression. He tended to have brief periods of extreme creative activity, intermixed with fairly long periods of greatly decreased output.

When confronted with a nightclub audience talking and clinking ice in their glasses while he performed, Mingus stopped his band and loudly chastised the audience, stating "Isaac Stern doesn't have to put up with this shit." Mingus reportedly destroyed a $20,000 bass in response to audience heckling at New York's Five Spot.

Guitarist and singer Jackie Paris was a first-hand witness to Mingus's irascibility. Paris recalls his time in the Jazz Workshop: "He chased everybody off the stand except [drummer] Paul Motian and me... The three of us just wailed on the blues for about an hour and a half before he called the other cats back."

On October 12, 1962, Mingus punched Jimmy Knepper in the mouth while the two men were working together at Mingus's apartment on a score for his upcoming concert at New York Town Hall and Knepper refused to take on more work. The blow from Mingus broke off a crowned tooth and its underlying stub. According to Knepper, this ruined his embouchure and resulted in the permanent loss of the top octave of his range on the trombone – a significant handicap for any professional trombonist. This attack temporarily ended their working relationship and Knepper was unable to perform at the concert. Charged with assault, Mingus appeared in court in January 1963 and was given a suspended sentence. Knepper did again work with Mingus in 1977 and played extensively with the Mingus Dynasty, formed after Mingus's death in 1979.

In 1966, Mingus was evicted from his apartment at 5 Great Jones Street in New York City for nonpayment of rent, captured in the 1968 documentary film Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968, directed by Thomas Reichman. The film also features Mingus performing in clubs and in the apartment, firing a .410 shotgun indoors, composing at the piano, playing with and taking care of his young daughter Caroline, and discussing love, art, politics, and the music school he had hoped to create.

Like most other artists, some of Mingus’s work was controversial. For example, in his album Pithecanthropus Erectus, the track “A Foggy Day,” was contentious in that Mingus incorporated elements such as sampled sounds of cars and boats into the work and attempted to play some of these sounds melodically, but was criticized and accused of coming off as gimmicky and as a result he did not use this musical device again[2]. Another track which created controversy was the tune and lyrics he composed in the track “The Original Fables of Faubus” for his 1959 album Mingus Ah Um; these lyrics were so controversial after the integration of Little Rock Central High School was barred, that Columbia records allegedly left them off the track,[7] though he was eventually able to put them in his later album, Charles Mingus Presents: Charles Mingus. This is a direct reflection of the sensitivity of race and racial topics during this racially divided, tumultuous time.

Legacy

Following his death, the National Endowment for the Arts provided grants to the Mingus foundation in order to allow them to catalogue all of the artist’s works, and it was in this process that his masterpiece “Epitaph” was discovered[1]. Mingus was also honored by New York City and Washington D.C. through a “Charles Mingus Day”[1]. In 2007, Sue Mingus, The Charles Mingus Institute, Justin DiCioccio, and the Manhattan School of Music produced the Annual Charles Mingus High School Festival & Competition, a competition that runs nationally in order to incentivize and popularize Mingus’s work and jazz music in general[5]. In addition, Sue Mingus put together three bands to carry on Mingus’s music, which perform weekly in New York as well as internationally and domestically: the Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra[1]. Other projects that have been successful in keeping his legacy strong and educating the public about jazz include non-profit organization “Let My Children Hear Music: the Charles Mingus Institute,” which bring audiences the three hour performances of Mingus’s masterpiece “Epitaph”[1]. Hal Leonard also publishes Mingus music charts and educational books[1]. These non profit organizations and projects aid in keeping the music of Mingus alive and relevant globally today.

The Mingus Big Band

The music of Charles Mingus is currently being performed and reinterpreted by the Mingus Big Band, which, starting October 2008, plays every Monday at Jazz Standard in New York City, and often tours the rest of the U.S. and Europe. Elvis Costello has written lyrics for a few Mingus pieces. He had once sung lyrics for one piece, "Invisible Lady", being backed by the Mingus Big Band on the album, Tonight at Noon: Three of Four Shades of Love.

In addition to the Mingus Big Band, there is the Mingus Orchestra and the Mingus Dynasty, each of which are managed by Jazz Workshop, Inc., and run by Mingus's widow Sue Graham Mingus.

Epitaph

Epitaph is considered one of Charles Mingus's masterpieces. The composition is 4,235 measures long, requires two hours to perform, and is one of the longest jazz pieces ever written. Epitaph was only completely discovered, by musicologist Andrew Homzy, during the cataloging process after his death. With the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were copied, and the piece itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller. This concert was produced by Mingus's widow, Sue Graham Mingus, at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, ten years after his death. It was performed again at several concerts in 2007. The performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall is available on NPR. The complete score was published in 2008 by Hal Leonard.

Autobiography

Mingus wrote the sprawling, exaggerated, quasi-autobiography, Beneath the Underdog: His World as Composed by Mingus, throughout the 1960s, and it was published in 1971. Its "stream of consciousness" style covered several aspects of his life that had previously been off-record. In addition to his musical and intellectual proliferation, Mingus goes into great detail about his perhaps overstated sexual exploits. He claims to have had more than 31 affairs in the course of his life (including 26 prostitutes in one sitting). This does not include any of his five wives (he claims to have been married to two of them simultaneously). In addition, he asserts that he held a brief career as a pimp. This has never been confirmed.

Mingus's autobiography also serves as an insight into his psyche, as well as his attitudes about race and society. It includes accounts of abuse at the hands of his father from an early age, being bullied as a child, his removal from a white musician's union, and grappling with disapproval while married to white women and other examples of the hardship and prejudice.

Cover versions

Considering the number of compositions that Charles Mingus wrote, his works have not been recorded as often as comparable jazz composers. The only Mingus tribute albums recorded during his lifetime were baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams's album, Pepper Adams Plays the Compositions of Charlie Mingus, in 1963, and Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, in 1979. Of all his works, his elegant elegy for Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (from Mingus Ah Um) has probably had the most recordings. Besides recordings from the expected jazz artists, the song has also been recorded by musicians as disparate as Jeff Beck, Andy Summers, Eugene Chadbourne, and Bert Jansch and John Renbourn with and without Pentangle. Joni Mitchell sang a version with lyrics that she wrote for it.

Elvis Costello has recorded "Hora Decubitus" (from Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus) on My Flame Burns Blue (2006). "Better Git It in Your Soul" was covered by Davey Graham on his album "Folk, Blues, and Beyond." Trumpeter Ron Miles performs a version of "Pithecanthropus Erectus" on his EP "Witness." New York Ska Jazz Ensemble has done a cover of Mingus's "Haitian Fight Song", as have the British folk rock group Pentangle and others. Hal Willner's 1992 tribute album Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (Columbia Records) contains idiosyncratic renditions of Mingus's works involving numerous popular musicians including Chuck D, Keith Richards, Henry Rollins and Dr. John. The Italian band Quintorigo recorded an entire album devoted to Mingus's music, titled Play Mingus.

Gunther Schuller's edition of Mingus's "Epitaph" which premiered at Lincoln Center in 1989 was subsequently released on Columbia/Sony Records.

One of the most elaborate tributes to Mingus came on September 29, 1969, at a festival honoring him. Duke Ellington performed The Clown at the festival. Duke himself did Jean Shepherd's narration. As of this date, this recording has not been issued.

Awards and honors

• 1971 Guggenheim Fellowship (Music Composition).
• 1971: Inducted in the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
• 1988: The National Endowment for the Arts provided grants for a Mingus nonprofit called "Let My Children Hear Music" which cataloged all of Mingus's works. The microfilms of these works were given to the Music Division of the New York Public Library where they are currently available for study.
• 1993: The Library of Congress acquired Mingus's collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as "the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library's history".
• 1995: The United States Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor.
• 1997: Posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 1999: Album Mingus Dynasty (1959) inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
• 2005: Inducted in the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame.

Discography

Main article: Charles Mingus discography

Filmography

• 1959, Mingus contributed most of the music for John Cassavetes's gritty New York City film Shadows.
• 1961, Mingus appeared as a bassist and actor in the British film All Night Long.
• 1968, Thomas Reichman directed the documentary Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968
• 1991, Ray Davies produced a documentary entitled Weird Nightmare. It contains footage of Mingus and interviews with artists making Hal Willner's tribute album of the same name, including Elvis Costello, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, and Vernon Reid.
• Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (78 minutes) a documentary film on Charles Mingus directed by Don McGlynn and released in 1998.

Further reading

• Charles Mingus, Beneath the Underdog, his autobiography, presents a vibrantly boastful and possibly apocryphal account of his early career as a pimp.
• Gene Santoro, Myself When I Am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus, Oxford University Press (November 1, 2001), 480 pages, ISBN 0-19-514711-1
• Brian Priestley, Mingus: A Critical Biography, Da Capo Press (April 1, 1984), 340 pages, ISBN 0-306-80217-1
• Sue Graham Mingus, Tonight at Noon: A Love Story,Da Capo Press; reprint (April 2003), 272 pages, ISBN 0-306-81220-7. Written by his widow.
• Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus – More Than a Fake Book, Hal Leonard Corporation (November 1, 1991), 160 pages, ISBN 0-7935-0900-9. Includes 2 CDs, photos, discography, music transcriptions, a Mingus comic book promoting his anti-bootlegging project, and so on.
• Janet Coleman, Al Young, Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs, Limelight Editions (August 1, 2004), 164 pages, ISBN 0-87910-149-0
• Todd S. Jenkins, I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus, Praeger (2006), 196 pages, ISBN 0-275-98102-9
• Geoff Dyer, But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz, Abacus (2006), pp. 103–127, ISBN 0-349-11005-0

External links

• Official website
• "What Is a Jazz Composer"—Liner notes from Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus.
• Charles Mingus by Nat Hentoff
• MINGUS!—sonic.net
• Charles Mingus multimedia directory – Kerouac Alley
• Charles Mingus: Requiem for the Underdog by Alan Goldsher
• Foraproject/sandbox at IMDb