Glancing over the Mingus chronology in an earlier post I realised I had omitted one of the master’s earliest and greatest works. Seeing the credits – McLean and JR Monterose caught me by suprise.Ĭhronology: Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) The Clown (1957) Mingus Mingus Mingus (1957) Tijuana Moods (1957) East Coasting (1957 ) Jazz Portraits (Wonderland) (1959) Blues and Roots (1959) Ah Um (1959) Mingus Dynasty (1959) Mingus Presents (1960) Reincarnation of a Lovebird (1960) The Black Saint and the Singer Lady (1963) Mingus 5 (1963) Mingus at Monterey (1965). Monterose (ts) Mal Waldron (p) Charles (not “Charlie” as here) Mingus (b) Willie Jones (d) recorded Audio-Video Studios, NYC, JanuRecording engineers Tom Dowd/ Hal LustigĪsked who was playing brass on this magnificent piece, from memory, I’d have to guess – wrong. Or as we say here at LJC, Great! Same thing, fewer words. Note: a little light crackle in background of quiet passagesĪccording to Mingus’ liner notes (quoted by Wiki) the title song is a ten-minute four-chapter tone poem, depicting the rise of man from his hominid roots Upright Ape-Man to an eventual downfall due to “ his own failure to realize the inevitable emancipation of those he sought to enslave, and his greed in attempting to stand on a false security.” Now there was me thinking it was just a great piece of music, turns out to be a PhD in social anthropology and a political polemic.ĪllMusic adds: The piece is held together by a haunting, repeated theme and broken up by frenetic, sound-effect-filled interludes that grow darker as man’s spirit sinks lower…the whole thing seethes with a brooding intensity that comes from the soloist’s extraordinary focus on the mood. Selection: Pithecanthropus Erectus (Mingus)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |