Blues and Roots

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Blues and Roots
Studio album by Charles Mingus

Publication
(s)

April 4th 1960

admission

4th February 1959

Label (s) Atlantic Records

Format (s)

LP , CD

Genre (s)

Post bop , hard bop

Title (number)

6th

running time

38:49

occupation

production

Nesuhi Ertegün

Studio (s)

Atlantic Studios, New York City

chronology
Mingus in Wonderland
(1959) 		Blues and Roots Mingus Ah Um
(1959)

Blues and Roots is a jazz album by double bass player Charles Mingus from 1960.

History and structure of the album

Mingus explains in the liner notes that the Atlantic Record producer Nesuhi Ertegün had suggested a few years earlier that he should make an entire album with blues , as in the Haitian Fight Song on the Atlantic recording The Clown in 1957, as critics had said Mingus don't swing enough and make music too intellectual, experimental. Mingus in the liner notes: I thought about it. I was born swinging and clapped my hands together as a little boy in church, but I've grown up and love doing things other than swing. But blues can do more than just swing. So I agreed . A large line-up of four saxophones and two trombones produce the voices, which are held together by the well-rehearsed rhythm section of Mingus and Richmond.

According to Mingus, the first piece, Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, recalls the gospel music of the Methodist worship services that he experienced as a child accompanied by his stepmother. The voices of the worshipers are taken over by the saxophones in interplay, occasionally interrupted and driven by heckling and clapping (second half of the alto solo) from Mingus and other players. Richmond also has a short solo (alongside Handy, Dennis, Parlan with a monotonous groove, Ervin).

Cryin 'Blues is a slow blues, opened with a tenor solo, followed by a solo by Mingus, Parlan on the piano and McLean can be heard in the choir with the others at the end, who also get rid of their energy in heckling before the piece slowly ends.

In Moanin 'there are solos by McLean, Pepper Adams, Booker Ervin, underlaid again and again by the rhythmically inserted theme phrase ( riff ), played by Adams on the baritone. The piece, which is written in AABA form (with each of the segments comprising 16 bars) was also re-recorded by the Mingus Bigband.

Tensions has solos from Mingus, McLean, Booker Ervin, Parlan and Richmond.

My Jelly Roll Soul leads into the world of early jazz, from which Mingus, according to his own words, was inspired by a book with pieces by Jelly Roll Morton , which he had published before beginning the composition. Knepper has his solo here, followed by Parlan on piano and McLean. At the end, Mingus and Richmond play alternately, with the wind instruments also starting again at the end.

E's Flat Ah's Flat Too is again built up at a fast pace and, according to Mingus, pyramid-shaped like a circle song . The blues-shaped theme is repeated as riffs and other themes are added in such a way that it feels like a canon is sounding. Joint ensemble play frames the solos of Waldron, Booker Ervin, McLean, Handy and Richmond.

On the successor Mingus Ah Um (published in 1959), recorded three months later , he picked up some elements (the gospel in Better Git in Your Soul similar to Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting , early jazz in Jelly Roll ).

Track list

All compositions are by Charles Mingus .

Page 1:

1. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting - 5:39 am
2. Cryin 'Blues - 4:58
3. Moanin ' (1) - 7:57

Page 2:

4. Tensions - 6:27
5. My Jelly Roll Soul - 6:47
6. E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too (2) - 6:37

Rhino Entertainment re-release bonus tracks (1998)

  1. Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (Alternate Take) - 6:59
  2. Tensions (Alternate Take) - 5:18
  3. My Jelly Roll Soul (Alternate Take) - 11:25
  4. E's Flat Ah's Flat Too (Alternate Take) - 6:47
1 Moanin ' is not to be confused with Bobby Timmons ' jazz standard of the same name .
2Waldron only plays E's Flat Ah's Flat Too piano, otherwise Parlan.

Graphic design of the sound carrier

The photo on the cover, a portrait of Mingus, was taken by Lee Friedlander .

reception

source rating
Allmusic

Rolling Stone magazine voted the album 42nd in the list of the 100 best jazz albums in 2013.

literature

  • Horst Weber & Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus - His life, his music, his records , Gauting, Oroes (Collection Jazz), p. 109ff (print of Mingus' liner notes)
  • Andrew Homzy , in: Charles Mingus, More Than a Fake Book. Hal Leonard Corporation 1991 ISBN 0-7935-0900-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review by Steve Huey on allmusic.com (accessed May 4, 2018)
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.