Calvin H. Neal, Jr.
January 2, 2017
Charles
Mingus, Jr., born April 22, 1922 in Nogales, Arizona was arguably the most
important bassist in jazz history, not only his bass virtuosity, but also for
his compositional and arranging prowess. His compositions interlaced jazz,
gospel, blues as well as African and Carribean rhythms. Much like his idol Duke
Ellington, Mingus wrote and arranged with specific musicians in mind and composed some of the most challenging and
accessible music of the hard bop era.
Raised in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, Mingus played with Barney
Bigard and Louis Armstrong and recorded with fellow Los Angeles residents Teddy
Edwards and Howard McGhee, before leading his own groups. His groups in this
era are a veritable hall of fame of this period in jazz. Jackie McLean, Booker
Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, Jaki Byard, Bill
Evans, Hampton Hawes, Horace Parlan and Eric Dolphy as well as the
underappreciated, yet very talented likes of saxophonist Curtis Porter aka
Shafi Hadi and trumpeter Eugene “Gene” Shaw.
Pithcanthropus Erectus, Tijuana
Moods, East Coasting, Blues and Roots
, Mingus Ah Um, Oh Yeah and The Black
Saint and The Sinner Lady are just a few of his classic recordings
throughout the era. The physically imposing and volatile genius was in my
estimation, the “Ellington of his era”.
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