Money Jungle C/D?

or not

I haven't listened to this in a long time, but what always stands out in my mind is the sound of Mingus going "byow byow BYOW BYOW BYOWWWWWWWW... byow byow byow BYOW BYOWWWWWWW... BYOW BYOWWW" at the end of the title track.

finally on youtube, i haven't heard this since like '01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEVlRRrNj7M

finally i have seen (heard) the light - classic album

just listened to this today! so great. i like miles' comment mentioned above re: mingus: "Too much coffee that morning." he does sound hopped up ... on something. don't think duke would've been intimidated or anything, though, he was probably not intimidated by anything, ever. he probably thought it was a hoot! also, i just saw this for the first time, so lovely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-0K58pwII

i love this record

Yeah, it's unimpeachable

This record strikes me as something that was probably kind of a weird novelty jam session/curiosity at the time and yet has managed to become canonical once it outlived its context. Does anyone know anything about the critical reception at the time?

Oh great, great record. Gonna play a couple of pices from it in my radio show tonight.
Almost bought today the Duke Ellington & Count Basie album, too. Didn't 'cause I had my lap full of CD's already (chosen to send to a Japanese friend).

(pie*ces. not pics*es :)

(or pixses, or - i'mma inna jungle here!)

> critical reception at the time

I read a roughly contemporary review, I think, where they talk about Mingus ruining it. Which is a head shaker these days, but from a certain vantage point, the bass on Fleur Africain could be considered overbearing. That bass rumble is exactly what drew me into the record, then jazz as a whole. But perhaps it didn't ring troo.

he was probably not intimidated by anything, ever.

Haha, totally. Duke loved Mingus' music, and played "The Clown" once, which rustled Mingus out of his late-60s semi-retirement.

damn TY for that video tyler! wonderful

This has become my absolute default background music for social situations. If you kick it with me, you're gonna hear Money Jungle. That's just how it is.

here's miles' comments, lol

On Duke Ellington, “Caravan” (Ellington, piano; Charlie Mingus, bass; Max Roach, drums):

What am I supposed to say to that? That’s ridiculous. You see the way they can fuck up music? It’s a mismatch. They don’t complement each other. Max and Mingus can play together, by themselves. Mingus is a hell of a bass player, and Max is a hell of a drummer. But Duke can’t play with them, and they can’t play with Duke.

Now, how are you going to give a thing like that some stars? Record companies should be kicked in the ass. Somebody should take a picket sign and picket the record company.

you can check out most of his "blind listening test" here, pretty brutal. http://www.noisemademedoit.com/miles-davis-blind-listening-test/

he's right about maybe 70% of what he says in that listening test imo

he sure says "sad" a lot

interesting that he hated eric dolphy so much. wonder if he and coltrane ever discussed it.

spotifying some of the tracks I don't know right now and miles davis otm

plus everyone but him always plays all blues wrong

interesting he liked cherry but not dolphy

i think i've read something else where he was not very charitable towards cherry.

I also agree with him that Henry Grimes isn't a very good soloist

His Cecil comments are some pretty embarrassing wrong-side-of-history shit, though.

nah

money jungle sounded great again today. stomping. don't know why i was vaguely disappointed back when i had it on vinyl

Reading that bf test carefully it turns out that it was the critics who were drinking the coffee, not Mingus.

"Now, Miles David wasn’t known for listening to just about anything – he was very selective in what he spent his time listening to, so he’s definitely got some opinions."

interesting that he hated eric dolphy so much. wonder if he and coltrane ever discussed it.

― tylerw, Thursday, July 12, 2012 10:20 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not to mention that he ended up playing w/ Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams, who played with Dolphy. Miles being Miles.

Funny stuff though.

"Money Jungle" is pretty great I think

Yeah, I feel like some of those comments come from him understanding what makes a good record and some of them just come from his ears not being open to certain kinds of sounds at the time. I wonder if even a slightly later Miles Davis would have liked Eric Dolphy or Money Jungle more.

If only Miles Davis had liked to listened to more records and had lived long enough to post on ILX.

Had liked to listen to.

Ah forget it.

In his autobio he tempered his view of Dolphy somewhat ("He could play; I just didn't like the way he played").

haha, fair enough!

love this album. been a favorite for years and years. first heard it in the early 90s, then spent ages looking for a vinyl copy. had some old guy in a jazz store tell me that "kids" were always looking for it, which didn't really surprise me. it's funky. do agree that mingus gets out of hand occasionally, like where he just drills into a single note for long stretches on the title track, but for the most part they all work together beautifully. love "fleurette africaine", "wig wise" and "very special", great version of "caravan".

His Cecil comments are some pretty embarrassing wrong-side-of-history shit, though.

otm

michael cuscana in his money jungle sleevenotes sez: "it is hard to imagine that Duke was not aware of contemporary pianist/composers like Herbie Nichols and Cecil Taylor", which I wld like to believe, tho' in truth i think ellington was always a modernist, and the title track is more especially monkian

xp yeah the "caravan" is pretty rowdy, almost sounds like it could break into "haitian fight song" or something. also love duke's long solo intro to "solitude."

i think ellington was always a modernist, and the title track is more especially monkian

Totally. Duke never really picked sides during the big debates (boppers vs. moldy figs; new-music proponents vs. critics like Feather), but he's played Monk pieces ("Monk's Dream" is on one of the Private Collection discs), and it's hard to imagine large chunks of The Far East Suite and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse without the influence of the new music.

Then again, he supposedly told the members of Chicago that they were the new standard-bearers, so...

Ellington: "Chicago, you are the new standard bearers ... [under his breath] of bulllllllshit."

Found the quote. It's far worse than I remembered:

Back in the early '70's, Ellington had asked to have Chicago appear on his TV special, Duke Ellington: We Love You Madly, along with such august company as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, and Count Basie. After the show, Parazaider and Pankow went to meet Ellington, who was near the end of his illustrious career. "I said, "Mr. Ellington, it really was an honour to be asked to be on your show," Parazaider recalls, "and he looked at Jimmy and me, and he said , 'On the contrary young men, the honour is all mine because you're the next Duke Ellington's.'

xp hahaha, read that in Ellington's voice.

Isn't there another Chicago quote from Hendrix supposedly? "I can play a little guitar but this guy blows me away"

terry kath could shred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zjqh5TQTEo
chicago's songs are still pretty horrible though.

http://wp-images.emusic.com/blogs/3/files/2011/01/kenny-g-and-miles-davis.jpg

As for Kenny G, he could read a newspaper and sound good! I’ll give that one five stars.

duke was just glad to see white kids playing horns is my guess.

kenny g reading the newspaper is the best he ever sounded in fact

dude does a killer sports section

haha I totally have to put that terry kath thing on one of the blind mixes I exchange with a friend of mine and see what noise guy he guesses it is

lol yeah i can see doing that. "rhys chatham! no, is thurston!?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucgZQGPZOpk

bing-bing-bing-bing-bing

bing-bing-bing

bing-bing-bing-bing-bing-bing-bing

BYOW-BYOW-BYOW-BYOWWWWWW!

otm

This is one of the all-time jazz trio greats, fucking awesome album.

ditto The Max Roach Trio featuring the Legendary Hasaan.

that one is soooo good too