Changes One / Two

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Changes One / Changes Two
Studio album by Charles Mingus

Publication
(s)

1975

Label (s) Atlantic

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

Changes One: 4, Changes Two: 5

running time

Changes One: 44:28 (CD), Changes Two: 42:53

occupation

production

Ilhan Mimaroğlu, Nesuhi Ertegün

Studio (s)

Atlantic Studios, New York City

chronology
Mingus at Carnegie Hall
(1974) 		Changes One / Changes Two Mingus at Antibes
(1976)

Changes One and Changes Two are two albums by Charles Mingus that were released on October 1, 1975 by Atlantic and were created in the recording sessions from December 27 to 30, 1974. They mark Mingus' successful comeback in the 1970s, after low points in the late 1960s and before he quit music due to illness. With Adams, Walrath, Pullen and his old drummer Dannie Richmond, Mingus once again had an excellent quartet from 1973, with whom he also went on a European tour in 1975, e.g. B. at the Montreux Jazz Festival , where pieces from the albums were also presented ( Devil Blues, For Harry Carney, Free Cell Block F, Sue's Changes ).

The title of the album alludes both to the fact that Mingus had gone through all sorts of changes in the previous years and that his partner Susan Graham was the editor of a magazine called Changes . Mingus had intended to distribute the pieces created during the recording sessions between the two albums in such a way that each of the albums would be very different in itself. He was interested in the reactions to this mixture. The albums were also marketed as double LPs for a while; the two CDs were never packed together.

Changes One

"Remember Rockefeller at Attica" was originally called "Just for Laughs, Saps" and was renamed by Mingus for political reasons - 39 people died in September 1971 when the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller , left Attica State Prison after a riot of around 1,000 Prisoners who took 33 guards hostage were stormed - without any concrete references to this being recognizable in the music. In the uptempo piece, allusions to other Mingus compositions such as “ Fables of Faubus ” and “Duke Ellington's Sound of Love”, but also to “ Take the A Train ” are made and motifs are further developed.

"Sue's Changes" pays homage to Mingus' last partner, Susan Graham. Mingus had written the piece in the year of the wedding; it was originally called "Sue's Moods". Perhaps the title is intended to encourage you to listen to musical representations of your changes in mood and relationship. “It was a long piece full of great melodies, danceable rhythms and concentrated, wild noises. Chaos and climax, said [Mingus]. ​​“The piece begins cautiously, then climbs into a collective improvisation of the winds that is typical of Mingus, before the piano takes over again. Pullen also improvises at various tempo changes up to an atonal climax, where the tenor saxophone takes over in ballad style, only to pass to the trumpet after a similar increase. The solos alternate until a new collective improvisation.

“Devil Blues” is a composition by George Adams and Mingus, with the text by Clarence Gatemouth Brown (except for the additional stanza “cosmic climax”), who in his “The Drifter” sees the devil in the unattached wanderer who leaves women behind . Adams sings himself (after a solo introduction by Mingus) in the tradition of the blues shouter, followed by a Walrath and Don Pullen solo. Adams follows with a tenor solo before he “screams out the blues” again, accompanied by the riff playing of the trumpet, which leads to the final ensemble playing.

" Duke Ellington 's Sound of Love" was written by Mingus as an obituary shortly after Ellington's death in May 1974. The piece, played at a slow pace, is a tribute by Mingus to his musical role model, as in several of his compositions before. The theme includes verbatim quotations from " Lush Life ", the "Blues in Black, Brown and Beige" and " Take the A Train ". Adam's playing and intonation are reminiscent of Harry Carney , who died almost at the same time and to whom an homage is also dedicated in “Changes Two”.

Changes Two

Like the first track on Changes One, “Free Cell Block F, ´Tis Nazi USA” was only given the title in retrospect (Mingus had read about a southern prison with an electric fence) and has little to do with the composition after the Memories by Jack Walrath initially called Jive Five, Floor Four , because it is based on 5/4 time.

" Range Was the Color of Her Dress Then Blue Silk " is a Mingus standard from the 1960s and, with its 17 minutes length, is the counterpart to "Sue's Changes" from the first album. Long solos, especially by Pullen at the beginning, alternate with collective improvisations and ballads from the tenor. The rhythm changes are reminiscent of “Ysabel's Table Dance” in Tijuana Moods , and like there the piece ends on Mingu's bass line (played with a bow). The piece was not cut into pieces, but recorded as a whole, as Mingus had previously impressed on the musicians.

"Black Bats and Poles" comes from Walrath, who has the solos in the first part of the uptempo piece.

"Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" is played here in a compact form and with a larger line-up than in "Changes One", additionally with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and singer Jackie Paris , who recites a poem by Mingus, describing Ellington's impression on the young Mingus (and also using one of his favorite self-descriptive metaphors, the clown). Mingus had initially hoped that Sarah Vaughn would sing the text. However, he and his band had recorded the piece in a key that was unsuitable for them, and Atlantic did not want to pay for any further recordings of the band. Vaughn suggested singing with her own trio; that also failed.

“For Harry Carney” was created by arranger Sy Johnson , with whom Mingus had previously worked (e.g. “Let My Children Hear Music”) (and who also arranged “Duke Ellington's Sound of Love”) on the occasion of Death of long-time Ellington confidante and saxophonist Harry Carney (a few months after Ellington). The melancholy keynote set by the trumpet at the beginning continues in Mingus Solo towards the end of the piece.

Track list

Changes One:

  1. "Remember Rockefeller at Attica" (Mingus) - 5:56
  2. "Sue's Changes" (Mingus) - 17:04
  3. "Devil Blues'" (Mingus, Adams) - 9:24
  4. "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" (Mingus) - 12:04

Changes Two:

  1. "Free Cell Block F, ´Tis Nazi USA" (Mingus) - 6:52
  2. "Orange Was The Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk" (Mingus) - 17:31
  3. "Black Bats and Poles" (Walrath) - 6:20
  4. "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" (Mingus) - 4:13
  5. "For Harry Carney" (Sy Johnson) - 7:57

On December 27, 1974, pieces 2 and 3 of Changes One were recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York City . On December 28, 1974, the remaining pieces of Changes One and "For Harry Carney" were written. The remaining pieces were recorded on December 30th. Gene Paul was the recording engineer for all the pieces.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Todd S. Jenkins I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus . Praeger 2006, p. 148f.
  2. ^ Todd S. Jenkins I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus . Praeger 2006, p. 145
  3. ^ "It's going to be interesting to me to see what the reaction is. They're both different than most albums I've done in that there's so much variety. Nothing's quite like anything else ". Quoted from Nat Hentoff, Liner Notes on Changes Two .
  4. ↑ Andrew Homzy , in Charles Mingus, More Than a Fake Book. P. 116ff.
  5. ^ A b Sue Graham Mingus Toonight at Noon. A Lovestory. Nautilus: Hamburg 2003, p. 134
  6. ↑ The text is printed in Weber, Filtgen, p. 170
  7. ^ Priestley, Charles Mingus, p. 209
  8. ↑ cf. Charles Mingus, More Than a Fake Book. P. 116
  9. ↑ We're going to do it in one take , as quoted by Nat Hentoff in his Liner Notes Mingus.
  10. ↑ The text is reproduced in Priestley, Charles Mingus, p. 209 and Weber, Filtgen, p. 172
  11. ↑ See Mingus Discography Project