Charles Mingus - The Albums Poll!

So, Mingus.........

black saint is great but a kind of random choice for the indie kid canon in many ways ... its the most prog least poptimist

1st one I bought about 10 years ago as I read about it in some best jazz albums ever book I borrowed from our library.

Black Saint, Mingus Ah Um, Let My Children, in that order.

impossible is right. i think i listen to 'oh yeah' more than anything just because 'ecclusiastics' is the best song ever so i'ma vote for that, but there are so many

Loved the cassette of Ah Um back in the day. Have to vote for that one. This poll is reminding me that I have no excuse for not listening to more Mingus

I have listened to those 70s Mingus records as much as anything, as I found them at a good price used when I first started listening to him. "Let My Children Hear Music" is really incredible and I think a bit slept on in comparison to some of the other records.

That being said, this is a tough one where there are about a half dozen or more records that are really pinnacle listening if you like the artist. Mingus' career is not segmented like many other jazz giants, he kind of had a sound and further refined it over his career.

One good record that is not mentioned in the list that I have is one called "East Coasting" which was recorded in 1957. The group on this one even included Bill Evans on piano. Worth checking out if you like Mingus' other records and you come across it.

I'm going to vote for Mingus Ah Um. That was the very first one I heard, although I have probably listened to Blues and Roots, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, New Tiajuana Blues and Let My Children Hear Music just as much. The crazy thing is that you can mention those records and are still leaving out killer records like Oh Yeah and The Clown. Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Booker Ervin are so great on Oh Yeah.

Lot of live stuff missing here, including innumerable ones of the '64 Dolphy/Coles/Jordan/Byard/Richmond group; best of these are The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus (done in Paris) and the Cornell '64 set which came out this year.

Also the Town Hall Concert on Blue Note which is by everybody's admission a mess but a fascinating mess nonetheless.

Then there is the astonishing UCLA '65 set (Music Written For Monterey But Not Played etc.) which finally got a legit CD release this year and is the greatest thing ever, warts and all.

Then the ones he did in Paris: the Right Now! quartet session with John Handy, Jane Getz and Richmond featuring a phenomenal take on "Faubus" and the Pithycanthropus (sic for copyright reasons) Erectus sextet session.

And then just after Let My Children Hear Music the Mingus And Friends album came out; recorded live and it's fairly messy big band stuff but does contain some dynamic sequences - features amongst others Diz, Bill Cosby, Gerry Mulligan and Gene Ammons (!).

Black Saint is going to get a lot of votes and so by the look of things is Let My Children (hugely underrated, and let's hope someone is able to disentangle the beyond complex personnel details of those sessions one of these days) but here I'm going for Oh Yeah because of Roland Kirk and Mingus yelling at the piano and "Passions Of A Man" inventing Iggy Pop (see "L.A. Blues") and its status as the most ROCKING of Mingus records.

mingus us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us us

incisive

And there was another Candid album which I think was just called Mingus but its main track was "MDM" and featured Paul Bley on piano.

Yeah, the one with the purple cover and dude wearing a hat, looking magnificent, right?

That's the one!

Great record. Must pull that out today.

All those Candid records totally kill.

Changes 1 and 2 need some love, too, although I know the singing tracks turn some people off.

man these jazz gods polls are killing me. Maybe The Clown vs. Blues & Roots for me?

I never got into Mingus Ah Um as much as these. Erectus is pretty interesting, Black Saint is outstanding, haven't heard too many of the others.

Mingus x5 ftw, I listen to that and Blues & Roots way more than anything else.

Lot of live stuff missing here, including innumerable ones of the '64 Dolphy/Coles/Jordan/Byard/Richmond group; best of these are The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus (done in Paris) and the Cornell '64 set which came out this year.
Revenge! up above is the same as the Great Concert, I think?

Is the Cornell thing as good as/better than the Live in Antibes disc that came out a few years ago?

If you mean the 1960 Antibes set then it's a tough call; Dolphy's eruption into free halfway through his solo on "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" is pretty much the beginning of time but "What Love?" isn't quite as good as the Candid one and Bud Powell on "I'll Remember April" wasn't at his best. The Cornell '64 is more "comfortable" in that the band are settling in more firmly but the music is equally as powerful and Byard's presence throughout does make a significant difference. The only disadvantage of the Cornell set is that we don't really get to hear Dolphy on alto; he takes nearly all his solos on bass clarinet.

That's a plus for me!

Blues and Roots for me. Glad to see all the love for Let My Children Hear Music which is often overlooked. (Though, Gary Giddins did name it one of thee ten best jazz records of the 70s.)

The UCLA '65 set is doubly fascinating since it does include prototypes of things which later surfaced on LMHCM: "Once Upon A Time There Was A Holding Corporation Called Old America" (which later became "The Shoes Of The Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers") is notoriously very messy in its ensemble playing - so much so that at one point Mingus sends the extra brass players backstage to practise getting it right - but when it catches fire it burns, concluding with an exquisite extended duet sequence between Lonnie Hillyer's trumpet and Mingus' piano.

What's the difference between Tijuana Moods and New Tijuana Moods?

Blues & Roots was one of my first jazz albums.

New Tijuana Moods just features some extra tracks, mostly alternate takes with longer, but not necessarily better, solos.

Plus a far-uglier album cover, if memory serves.

A couple of favourites are missing above. Of the ones that are there, the ones on Impulse! are particularly ace, as are the early Columbias. (Never heard "Let My Children..." which y'all have gotten me curious about.) I'm going with Mingus Presents Mingus because I love Mingus' voice, and we get to hear him address the absent audience and lecture the nonexistent bartenders and sing a duet with Dannie Richmond and etc.

And above all else, Mingus and Dolphy have an argument and Dolphy quits the band (on "What Love?") - but with instruments!

"I'm going with Mingus Presents Mingus because I love Mingus' voice, and we get to hear him address the absent audience and lecture the nonexistent bartenders and sing a duet with Dannie Richmond and etc."

When Mosaic reisssued this material, they cut out all the dialog. Criminal!

I was listening to this on the way to work, cracking up at Mingus do pretend banter: "Don't clap until the end of the set, and then it won't matter." A strong contender, as are Oh Yeah and A Modern Jazz Symposium.

Mingus Ah Um, I'm on record as saying this is the finest album ever recorded.

I've never understood the rep for that one. I mean, sure it's good, sure, but not all that exciting compared to some of the other options.

Anyhow, Mingus x 5 for me; with Black Saint and Pithecanthropus Erectus tied for second place (sort of).

*sure*

I'm going with Oh Yeah (on which Mingus doesn't even play bass, if memory serves) slightly over Blues & Roots and Mingus Dynasty.

I just searched for a PopMatters piece I wrote about Mingus Ah Um so I could quote it, but it was five years ago and man was my writing horrible back then -- so smug and self-satisfied! Damn.

Anyway, my point was that Mingus invented the album statement with MAU, but I'm not even sure I agree with that now. More likely, my love for this record is the beautiful ensemble playing, the risky compositions, and the tributes to Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, and Orval Faubus all on the same record.

But if you don't think the sax/handclap break on "Better Get It in Your Soul" is exciting, then nothing I say here will help you, as your heart is dead. ;) BANTER!

I don't know, it just never really hit me the way I always expect it to--thanks mostly to its immense rep, I guess: Bsngs raving about it somewhere or othere, etc.

oops, that should be Bangs, obviously.

I think I'll go with The Clown, it's what got me hooked in the first place. But this is pretty close to impossible. Black Saint is genius as well and that's a whole other listening experience... So much greatness!

... and the freak version of Better Get Hit with Larry "Stormbringer" Coryell on guitar deserves a mention.

Y'all are gonna make me bust out my old poetry slam piece about how Mingus is Godzilla compared to the secondary monsters that are all other genres of music. Oh god I sucked as a poet but it was fun doing it live with a kick-ass jazz band at the Green Mill back in the day.

do it, dad!

Blues & Roots

Mingus Ah Um is great but so many of those tunes are bettered on Mingus x 5 (ie what deej said).

Yep, that too.

I'm going with Oh Yeah (on which Mingus doesn't even play bass, if memory serves)

Memory serves. He plays piano on it. It's not my very favorite, but it does have the best Mingus album cover!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WCFCT8GnL._AA240_.jpg

It's also got a lot of Mingus's raucous singing on it - and it's got the very weird "Passions of a Man" which is sort of like a Faust track.

I have heard your Mingus X5 but I respectfully disagree, tracks all seem watered down like hotel gin.

IIBS???

Even Haitian Fight Song?!

xpost

I was talking about "Theme for Lester Young" and "Better Get Hit in Your Soul" specifically, as they are versions of songs from MAU. "IIBS" is the best version of "Haitian Fight Song," I absolutely agree.

Y'all are gonna make me bust out my old poetry slam piece about how Mingus is Godzilla compared to the secondary monsters that are all other genres of music. Oh god I sucked as a poet but it was fun doing it live with a kick-ass jazz band at the Green Mill back in the day.

-- Dimension 5ive, Friday, December 14, 2007 5:30 PM

!!!!

BIG HOOS = reformed slam dude who once read at the Mill, would lurv to hear it

Nope. You'll have to go back in time and check me bombing with that piece at the Ann Arbor slam in '95.

haha my team had the requisite "name-drop jazz artists" piece, and in it I pantomimed bass. I took my cues from videos of Mingus!

lolololol

Folk Forms No. 1, the live version at Antibes. Kinda surprised given how often Mingus' compositions have been recorded the past 25 years that, as far as I know, nobody has put out a cover version yet. I wonder if Sue Mingus has something against that tune & "What Love."

Guess it is not really a best-of kind of entry at half an hour long, but Cumbia & Jazz Fusion is probably my favorite work of his from the '70s--swampy sections, drum duels, pretentious/beautiful piano, bird sounds, "diamonds in the nose" & modal groove.

I said this upthread but I think Antibes is top 3 mingus record ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOUhl_Pvd24

"Pithecanthropus Erectus" is a definite favourite. Likewise "Jelly Roll" and a few already mentioned

xpost yeah "Antibes" was one of my first Mingus recs. I was so thrilled to discover ACTUAL EXISTING FOOTAGE of that version of "I'll Remember April" on youtube (Dolphy & Ervin trading fours!)

Pithecantrhopus Erectus is my absolute favorite! The concept, as I perceive it anyway, is irresistible to me. Caveman jazz...

"haitian fight song" has pretty much always been my favorite. my brother and i had a long talk about how it seems like a precursor or older relative to coltrane's "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." also love "wednesday night prayer meeting"

Oh Yeah is such a great, weird album. Mine even more so, since I got it as the disc from the box set that combines it with Tonight at Noon. Roland Kirk & Booker Ervin honk and squawk with abandon. "Wham Bam" and "Don't Drop the Bomb on Me" are beautiful.

And "Love Chant" from Pithecanthropus is sublime. Desert island pick without question.

Just found out last night Terri Lyne Carrington did a tribute to Money Jungle and is touring on it.

Didn't feel like reviving the Money Jungle thread so posting about it here.

for an individual song, it's tough to get better than Ecclusiastics from Oh Yeah.

had a listen to that one last night, Karl. Never really thought of Mingus as a 'weird' artist, but it's tunes like that which disprove the assumption.

Mingus Dynasty is a marvellous album and easily belongs in the Mingus top tier. I only just learned from the intro of Beneath The Underdog that the album title is a reference to his own Chinese heritage.