Charles Mingus
The Angry Man of Jazz... As a musician, master of the double bass, as well as occasionally lending his hands to the piano, cello and trombone. With his skills he started out early in his career touring with the likes of Satchmo and Louis Hampton, as well as his favour artist in Duke Ellington for a short time (Mingus was later to be the first AND only performer ever 'fired' by the Duke). He was also involved in the bebop scene, performing with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Max Roach.
However, it wasn't during these times that he truly stood out to jazz fans. It was his compositional work, and work as band leader, where he really took off into a stratosphere where only jazz legends abide. During Mingus' most productive period came his first true breakthrough -
Pithecanthropus Erectus. An ambitious album that nonetheless didn't break too harshly from a traditional jazz base, the album is powerful and intense, and the title song eventually became a symbol for Mingus' artistic merit and passion.
Who can argue with his greatness in the jazz world when his output ranges from the early days of
Pithecanthropus Erectus and
The Clown, through
Blues & Roots,
Ah Um and
Mingus Dynasty, to masterpieces such as
Tijuana Moods and
The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady before ending his career with
Let My Children Hear Music, with great albums scattered in between.
As I opened this post, I noted his nickname, 'The Angry Man of Jazz'. This was given to him for due reasons. As mentioned, he managed to be the only person fired by the Duke, he was a composer and musician with a set idea of what he wanted, and if you were the one to step in his way, you knew about it. Some other famous outbursts include... (From Wikipedia)
Quote:
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 ****." He once played a prank on a similar group of nightclub chatterers by silencing his band for several seconds, allowing the loud audience members to be clearly heard, then continuing as the rest of the audience snickered at the oblivious "soloists".
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 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.
Mingus was also evicted from his apartment at 5 Great Jones Street in New York City because he fired a gun through his wall into a neighbor's apartment.
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He also 'bragged' in his autobiography about his sexual promiscuity, as well as claiming that he was briefly a pimp.
Cut down by Lou Gherig's Disease late in his life his final piece,
Epitaph, was never complete before his death in 1979, but was discovered, the two hour, ten minute long piece performed 10 years after his death.
One of the few great jazz artists that don't bore me, despite how much I have listened to his music. Other classics have long past their 'use by' date with me, and aren't overly entertaining after listening to over and over. I can honestly say I have never yet been bored with a Mingus album.
My favourite albums of his are Pithecanthropus Erectus, The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady, and Mingus5.