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| Charles Mingus (photo credit unknown) |
The bassist/composer/bandleader Charles Mingus was born in Nogales, Arizona but was raised in the Watts section of Los Angeles. He was a formidable double bassist despite being earlier attracted to the cello, which was an instrument more suited to classical music. He studied bass with Red Collander in his late teens but didn’t take the bass seriously until he was offered a job as a bassist with saxophonist Buddy Collette’s swing band. Over the years Mingus was always writing music, much of which was inspired by his classical training, a willingness to utilize elements of free jazz, and his inherent creativity and swing. There was a “third stream” sense to some of Mingus’ music.
His career found him in bands with Russell Jacquet, Teddy
Edwards, Chico Hamilton and Howard McGhee. He played with Lionel Hampton’s band and was subsequently
part of a short lived but influential trio with guitar wizard Tal Farlow and vibraphone
player Red Norvo. Mingus subbed for
bassist Wendell Marshall in the Duke Ellington before a dispute with trombonist
Juan Tizol caused him to be fired. His mercurial temper would get the best of
him many times. He was known to kick bandmates off the stage if he was not
pleased with their performance. He once broke trombonist Jimmy Knepper’s teeth
which did permanent damage to the musicians’ embouchure and limit his
subsequent range on his instrument. No doubt that is why he was sometimes
called “the angry man of jazz.”
By the fifties Mingus was making his mark as both a musician and a composer. He released important albums like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956), The Clown (1957) and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963). His 1959 Columbia release Ah Um was my entre into the composing and arranging art of Charles Mingus. The bassist was joined on this album by his eight-piece group that included John Handy alto and tenor saxophone and clarinet; Booker Ervin on tenor sax; Shafi Hadi on tenor and alto sax; Willie Dennis and Jimmy Knepper on trombones; Horace Parlan on piano: Charles Mingus on double bass and piano; and Danny Richmond on drums. The music had nine Mingus compositions all worth a listen, but my favorite and one of the most enduring compositions was the tribute to Lester Young, Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat.”