A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry
| A Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry | ||||
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| Studio album by Charles Mingus | ||||
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| Label (s) | Bethlehem Records | |||
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LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
5 |
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A Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry is a jazz album by Charles Mingus recorded in October 1957 and first released by Bethlehem Records . It was recorded shortly after the albums Tijuana Moods and East Coasting .
The plate
"The Modern Jazz Symposium" was the opportunity for Charles Mingus to experiment with texts and sounds. "Scenes In The City" takes up ideas that Mingus had already sketched in "Foggy Day" (on the LP Pithecanthropus Erectus from 1956), but there with greater perfection. "New York Sketchbook" is, so to speak, the parallel piece to "Scenes", wonderfully composed and executed, with an excellent solo by trumpeter Clarence Shaw, who outgrows himself (quoted by Morton / Cook). In addition, the record contains three instrumental numbers from the Mingus band.
"Scenes In The City" is closely related to Duke Ellington's "Harlem Air Shaft". The poem being recited was written by the author Lonnie Elders with the help of the poet Langston Hughes . The narrator is Melvin Stewart ; he manages a relaxed, "hip", jazz-friendly presentation. "Scenes" is the story of a boy and his relationship with jazz ; it is intended to illustrate how someone who is not a musician lives in and reflects upon the music of the city of New York that they hear; so every note he hears becomes part of him.
The original title of "New York Sketchbook" was "Tourist in Manhattan" and was intended as a musical portrait of the city or district.
"Duke's Choice" is supposed to reproduce the mood of the music of Duke Ellington , with which Mingus repeatedly occupied himself. The solos are from Clarence Shaw.
" Nouroog " (also "Neuroog") is a feature for the ballad arts of Shafi Hadi (alias Curtis Porter). Trumpeter Bill Hardman stepped in to replace Clarence Shaw, who was sick with the flu, on the last day of the session when "Nouroog" was to be recorded. Mingus is said to have verbally abused Shaw for his absence that Shaw gave up his job for a while and only presented recordings again in 1962. "Nouroog" was re-recorded by Mingus in 1962 under the title "Don´t Come Back" at the Town Hall Concert and then on Epitaph .
"Slippers" is a swinging piece in a 4/4 beat with solo parts by Jimmy Knepper and Shafi Hadi.
The pieces
- "Scenes In The City" (11: 20/11: 49)
- " Nouroog " (5: 01/4: 49)
- "New York Sketchbook" (8: 29/8: 51)
- "Duke's Choice" (6:25)
- "Slippers" (3:27)
All pieces were composed by Charles Mingus, the lyrics for "Scenes In The City" and "New York Sketchbook" are by Lonnie Elders and Langston Hughes . Pieces 1, 3, 4, 5 were recorded in a first session in October 1957, 2 probably one or a few days later.
Edition history
The record was released in Europe by the English Polydor under the name "Duke's Choice", then it was out of print for a long time. There are different versions of some of the pieces, as they were recorded both in stereo and in mono.
In 1986 the record was released on Affinity without copyright permission under the title "Scenes in The City" (Affinity 105); some of the pieces (1, 3, 4) are also included on the bootleg CD New York Sketchbook (Affinity / Charly 19) of the same year.
In 2001 the 3-CD edition Trilogy - The Complete Bethlehem Collection (Rhino 74273) appeared with this record, the predecessor East Coasting and the 1954 LP The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus (= "Abstractions"). It also contains the following tracks: 6. Wouldn't You (8:42), 7. Bounce (9:20), 8. Slippers [Alternate Take] (3:49).
Literature and Sources
- Horst Weber , Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus. His life, his music, his records . Oreos, Gauting-Buchendorf, undated, ISBN 3-923657-05-6
- Nat Hentoff : Liner Notes for A Modern Jazz Symposium (Bethlehem)
- Brian Priestley : Liner Notes to New York Sketchbook
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Weber / Filtgen, Charles Mingus, p. 106
- ↑ Ottonen gives several observations by Uwe Weiler in his annotated discography .