Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert
| Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert | ||||
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| Live album by Charles Mingus | ||||
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| Label (s) | Columbia | |||
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2 LP / 2 CD |
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Title (number) |
10/17 |
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running time |
130: 20 (CD) |
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Studio (s) |
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Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert is a jazz album by Charles Mingus . It is the live recording of a concert that took place on February 4, 1972 in New York's Avery Fisher Hall . In addition to his band, the bassist and composer Mingus had invited friends such as Gene Ammons , Dizzy Gillespie , Lee Konitz , James Moody and Gerry Mulligan to do this. The recordings were first released in 1973 as a double LP on Columbia Records . They were revised, supplemented and reissued in 1996 by Sy Johnson and Bob Belden .
Prehistory of the concert
In 1970 Charles Mingus returned to the jazz scene after a six-year absence. In 1971 he published his autobiography Beneath the Underdog and recorded the studio album Let My Children Hear Music for Columbia . To promote the album, Teo Macero , Bruce Lundvall and others in the management of the label planned to have the bassist perform with his regular band members such as Charles McPherson and Bobby Jones as well as guests at the New York Philharmonic Hall and to record the concert to produce a live album. Without further ado, Teo Macero took over the management of the ensemble; Sy Johnson, who had already worked on the previous album, was hired as arranger.
The concert was planned with a main guest soloist; However, the Sonny Rollins that was initially requested canceled , as did Freddie Hubbard . Finally, the tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons accepted , who had gotten a little out of the spotlight at the time and whose R&B style was considered "old hat" at the time. Additional guests were Gerry Mulligan , Milt Hinton , James Moody , Randy Weston and Lee Konitz, as well as singers Honey Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie .
For the concert Charles Mingus had written a trumpet piece especially for Roy Eldridge , who had to cancel due to illness ( laryngitis ). On his recommendation, Jon Faddis , then eighteen, took his place , making his triumphant recording debut. To give the concert even more publicity, Mingus, his friend, comedian Bill Cosby was advised to hire as master of ceremonies.
In the liner notes of the revised and expanded new edition of the concert recording, Sy Johnson wrote in 1996 about the difficulties at the time in writing all the new arrangements within the time allotted for the concert. Johnson's idea of performing “The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife ...”, recorded in 1971, with eleven woodwinds and six bassists, was dropped because it was too costly. The centerpiece of the concert was - in addition to most of the titles and revised arrangements from Let My Children Hear Music - the new suite for trumpet and orchestra, the “Little Royal Suite”, which Mingus had written for Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge. After initial rehearsals for the concert, producer Teo Macero realized that Mingus was not going to finish the trumpet work and then finished arranging it with Johnson based on Mingus' ideas; Johnson then added a ballad interlude for eight saxophonists.
The concert on February 4, 1972
Contrary to all expectations, the concert was sold out. A special reception committee was set up for Charles Mingus, who had not performed in New York City for nearly ten years. Well over 2000 visitors turned up; in the audience sat u. a. Stan Getz , Ornette Coleman and George Wein . The concert began with the swing classic " Honeysuckle Rose ", for which Bill Cosby was allowed to mime the conductor: "You really need a bit of humor to endure this piece," wrote Horst Weber and Gerd Filtgen about it Track that was included on the double LP, but was left out in the later new edition in 1996.
After a brief announcement by Cosby ("... this evening belongs to Mister Charles Mingus!") The big band then played a Mingus composition from the 1950s, "Jump Monk"; Johnson had listened to the music from the 1955 album Mingus at the Bohemia , transcribed it and orchestrated it for a large cast. The winds began with an abstract introduction; then came an unaccompanied statement from Gene Ammons. Only now does the band join; Ammons played a rough style of blues . Further soloists are trombonist Eddie Bert (who was already there at the Bohemia concert), as well as friends Charles McPherson and Lonnie Hillyer in a duet.
In addition to Hillyer and Ammons, Lee Konitz, who had played the piece with Mingus as “Extrasensory Perception” in 1952, and Gerry Mulligan appeared as guest soloists on the following track “ESP”.
After the act, Cosby cracks a joke that Fables of Faubus had been canceled for that evening and that Charles Mingus was wearing a tie. In “Ecclusiastics”, a euphoric Methodist hymn based on Gary Giddins , the young trumpeter Jon Faddis (with a stuffed trumpet ) appeared next to Ammons and Bobby Jones . Todd Jenkins wrote that Ammons was a completely different player than (at the time) Roland Kirk ; he masters “the gospel as well as the blues ” and delivers “an ecstatic solo”. Bobby Jones, on the other hand, as the second tenor, “firmly anchors Mingus's music in the present”.
" Eclipse ", which Mingus originally composed for Billie Holiday , is a feature here for singer Honey Gordon . The orchestral arrangement by Sy Johnson, according to biographers Weber and Filtgen "very similar to the version from the Pre-Bird record", left no room for further solos.
This was followed by the upbeat piece “Us Is Two” in the Ellington style with baritone passages by Gerry Mulligan embedded in the ensemble. The piece had its first performance that evening; after a first solo by Bobby Jones, Ammons couldn't cope with the unfamiliar material and broke off in the middle of the chorus . Then Charles McPherson had a solo that was more familiar with the material.
This is followed by "Taurus in the Arena of Life", originally also called "Number One Grandson". Sy Johnson speculated that Art Tatum and Harry Carney were the main sources of inspiration for Mingus for the structure of the piece.
Then Mingus plays an introductory solo in the spontaneously improvised "Mingus Blues", which Gene Ammons joins; a duet that reminded Todd Jenkins of Mingus' dialogue with Eric Dolphy on "What Love".
After a short announcement, the ensemble plays the broad, twenty-minute “Little Royal Suite”; The soloist is Jon Faddis right at the beginning, followed by Ammons, Konitz, then Ammons again, then Gerry Mulligan, Charles McPherson and again Ammons. Ironically, according to Todd Jenkins, Faddi's solo was more reminiscent of the Gillespie present than - as Mingus intended - of Roy Eldridge. After the series of solos, Faddis' turn came again and ended the piece with wild cadences. According to Giddins, the piece is the highlight of the album, with which Faddis also established his reputation. According to Giddins, it shows style variations that are characteristic of Mingus, serial music and Jelly Roll Morton meet in billowing ostinato figures and throbbing dissonances
The composition "Strollin´" comes from the collaboration with George Gordon in the early 1950s; Mingus used the piece in 1959 in the instrumental version as "Nostalgia in Times Square". Gordon's daughter Honey Gordon, who also had the piece in her repertoire, starts the blues theme with the piano at first, before the band joins; Soloists are here u. a. Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Bobby Jones on clarinet and Howard Johnson on baritone.
The following composition "The I of Hurricane Sue", which comes from the previous studio album, Mingus dedicated to his wife Sue ; The soloists here are alto saxophonist Charles McPherson and tenor saxophonist Bobby Jones; John Foster sets accents by creating a chaotic mood through his free jazz piano playing, reinforced by the spontaneous interjections of the horn players.
"E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too" is a new version of "Hora Decubitus" (from the Impulse album Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus from 1963). As soloists here are u. a. Joe Chambers , Milt Hinton , flautist James Moody, Randy Weston and Konitz can be heard. For a short interlude, Dizzy Gillespie appears as a guest, who came exclusively for this number at Cosby's request and performed his "Ool-Ya-Koo" in scat singing in a duet with Bill Cosby, who had a bit of a difficult time with it. The short composition " Portrait ", introduced by Charles Mingus' solo play, sets the stage for the singer Honey Gordon again.
The concert ends with "Don't Be Afraid, The Clown's Afraid Too," which Mingus first played at the UCLA concert in 1965; In his brief introduction, Mingus pulls the strings of his instrument to the side of the fingerboard; it produced a sound that, according to Todd Jenkins, is similar to the human voice. The main soloists here are Mingus, Jon Faddis, Charles McPherson, Lonnie Hillyer, Bobby Jones and pianist John Foster.
Rating of the album
Mingus himself, asked at dinner after the performance how he thought the concert, looked up from his plate and said only: “ Too many friends. “However, the concert was a great success with the audience and contributed to the comeback of the bassist and band leader; the Mingus biographers Horst Weber and Gerd Filtgen see it as proof of the (in the 1970s) steadily growing recognition of Mingus and his music. However, they note critically that - despite the renewed participation of arranger Sy Johnson - the musical result lags far behind Let My Children Hear Music . The whole "was for a long time a friendly jam session to which Mingus hired his friends". Despite technical mishaps (Gerry Mulligan stood too far away from the microphone at times), the authors nevertheless praised individual musical achievements, such as the powerful playing of Gene Ammons, the outstanding flute solo by James Moody, the pianist Randy Weston and the "early start" of young Jon Faddis. "As a record, especially as a double album, the whole thing doesn't make much."
In Allmusic, Scott Yanow comments critically on Charles Mingus' late work that many of his recordings with larger ensembles in his last few years have tended to appear "unruly and somehow undisciplined". The re-release in the form of two CDs, featuring five previously unreleased pieces, celebrates Mingus' return to jazz after six years of relative inactivity; great musicians like Gerry Mulligan, Gene Ammons, Lee Konitz, Randy Weston, James Moody and many musicians from Mingus' earlier ensembles would have the chance to play with the great bassist here; but most of it is "all too fleeting"; But remember the “overcrowded” “E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too” and sometimes the “Little Royal Suite”, where 18-year-old Jon Faddis steals the show.
Sy Johnson reported in 1996 about the mishaps that he was able to experience as a spectator during the concert; While the first numbers "Jump Monk", "ESP" and "Ecclusiastics" went well, saxophonist Gene Ammons stumbled on his solo in "Us Is Two"; he finished his solo in the middle of the chorus, and Teo Macero was unable to fix the situation, "and we had the first train derailment." On "Strollin '", Honey Gordon had too little microphone; the piece was also too long. Regarding the “Little Royal Suite”, Johnson self-critically noted that the suite was “bumpy, incoherent and lost” because the rehearsals were far too short for it.
Brian Priestley states in his Mingus biography that the album undoubtedly documents a great event and shows that drummer Joe Chambers is an excellent choice. However, he points out that the concert is not balanced enough and has allowed too much undesigned wind playing.
Todd S. Jenkins admits in his book The Music of Charles Mingus that the music - despite the excessive effort of the organizers of Columbia - does not always meet the usual Mingus standards; The bass player also didn't feel very confident about his performance that evening and therefore only played three solos in total. Also Milt Hinton , who was hired as a second bassist, had acted very cautious and only played a short solo. Nevertheless, Jenkins attests that Mingus was in extraordinary form in his outstanding duet with Ammons ( Mingus Blues ) and especially in the final number; Overall, the concert was a highlight of his career and personally gave him the strength to continue working.
Steven Davis commented on the album in Rolling Stone Magazine with all reservations that it contained the best recordings of Gene Ammons ever. One of the highlights of the evening is the deeply moving interpretation of " Eclipse " by Honey Gordon.
Aftermath of the album
Due to the success of the concert, Mingus and his Big Band took over the place of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis band, which was on tour in Europe, in the Village Vanguard from March 20 to mid-May 1972 . Further concerts followed in June and July 1972.
Columbia Records went to great lengths to promote the concert as well as the later albums; The album cover with the depicted Mingus head (and the white writing on the back of the cover) was a reminiscence of the Bob Dylan album Greatest Hits Vol. II, which was also released by Columbia at the time . Mingus continued his late career not with Teo Macero and Columbia, but from April 1973 with his old label Atlantic Records , where (after a reissue album The Art of Charles Mingus- The Atlantic Years ) in 1973 his follow-up album Mingus Moves and the recording from his Carnegie Hall concert in 1974, which Jon Faddis also performed.
After Mingus, the fact that the concert was sold out impressed the concert organizers and showed them that jazz musicians could be successfully booked again: George Wein was so impressed by the concert event that it reinforced his decision to move his Newport Jazz Festival to New York City, where Charles Mingus also performed with the big band.
The organizers of the concert Julie Lokin and Art Weiner then started the concert agency New Audience ; their second concert was the Carnegie Hall concert on January 19, 1972 by Charles Mingus, which in turn had jam session character.
Track list
Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus and Friends (Columbia KG 31614 / C2K 64975 (CD))
For the new edition on two CDs, the original sequence of tracks at the concert was restored. The track Honeysuckle Rose contained on the double LP (Columbia KG 31614) was not recorded.
CD 1
- Introduction by Bill Cosby - 1:06
- Jump Monk - 7:28
- ESP - 9:25
- Ecclusiastics - 9:31
- Eclipse - 4:03
- Us Is Two - 10:12
- Taurus in the Arena of Life (aka Number One Grandson) - 5:53
- Mingus Blues - 5:33
- Introduction to Little Royal Suite by Billy Cosby - 0:14
- Little Royal Suite - 8:20 pm
CD 2
- Introduction to Little Royal Suite by Billy Cosby - 0:50
- Strollin´ (Mingus / George Gordon) - 10:14
- The I of Hurricane Sue - 11:12 am
- E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too (aka Hora Decubitus) - 17:08
- Ool-Ya-Ko (Gillespie / Gil Fuller ) - 3:54
- Portrait - 3:58
- Don't Be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid Too - 10:36
All compositions (except indicated) are by Charles Mingus. The transcription, arrangement and orchestration was done by Sy Johnson.
The title sequence of the double LP
- page 1
1. Honeysuckle Rose (opening theme) (Fats Waller)
Opening remarks by Bill Cosby, MC
2. Jump Monk
3. Mingus Blues
- Page 2
1. Us Is Two
2. E's Flat, Ah's Flat Too
3. Eclipse
- Page 3
1. Little Royal Suite
2. Ool-Ya-Koo (Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Fuller)
- page 4
1. ESP
2. Ecclusiastics
literature
- Todd S. Jenkins: I Know What I Know: The Music of Charles Mingus . Westport, CT / London: Praeger 2006, ISBN 0-275-98102-9
- Sy Johnson: Liner Notes Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (1996)
- Horst Weber, Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus. His life, his music, his records. Gauting-Buchendorf: Oreos, undated, ISBN 3-923657-05-6
- Brian Priestley : Mingus: A Critical Biography. London: Paladin, 2005, ISBN 0-586-08478-9 .
Web links
- Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert at Allmusic (English)
- Review of Steven Davis at Rolling Stone ( April 30, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sy Johnson mentions in the liner notes that Mingus originally intended to perform the concert without a musical director; but he was finally convinced of the necessity by Johnson and Macero. For Johnson - as Todd Jenkins speculates in his book - the decisive point could have been the memory of the Town Hall disaster of 1962.
- ↑ Todd S. Jenkins, p. 136.
- ↑ See information from Julie Lokin and Art Weiner, Liner Notes (1996).
- ↑ a b c d See Sy Johnson, Liner Notes, 1996.
- ^ According to Priestley ( Mingus , p. 195), 300 tickets more were sold by mistake than the hall had seats
- ↑ Quotation Weber / Filtgen, p. 164.
- ↑ See Todd S. Jenkins, p. 136.
- ↑ Mingus' composition from the early days of Debut Records should not be confused with Wayne Shorter's 1965 track of the same name , released on ESP (album) by Miles Davis .
- ↑ Notes from Todd S. Jenkins in his book The Music of Charles Mingus .
- ↑ Visions of Jazz, Oxford UP 1998, p. 450.
- ↑ 1961 on a radio broadcast from Birdland
- ^ Todd S. Jenkins, p. 137.
- ↑ Weber / Filtgen, p. 165
- ↑ cf. Jenkins, p. 138.
- ↑ The title of the track, which was originally intended for the previous album, but was discarded at the time, refers to the announcement by Mingus' son Eugene that Mingus would soon be a grandfather, which then turned out to be a false alarm . See Sy Johnson, Liner Notes, and Todd Jenkins.
- ^ On Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus and Mingus at Antibes , both 1960
- ↑ a b c See Todd Jenkins, p. 139.
- ↑ Giddins Visions of Jazz , p. 450, It is characteristically varied in design, as serialism and Jelly Roll Morton meet on a stage of billowing ostinato figures and throbbing dissonances
- ↑ Gordon recorded it for her record Honi Sings (1962), but was already involved in the recording sessions for Mingus Dynasty , where an instrumental version was also created, which was only released in 1998. Mingus first played the piece instrumental as Pipe Dream in 1946 with Lady Will Carr . See also B. Priestley, pp. 116f.
- ↑ Quoted from Sy Johnson, Liner Notes 1996.
- ↑ Weber / Filtgen, p. 163
- ↑ Weber / Filtgen, p. 164f.
- ↑ unruly and somewhat undisciplined
- ↑ In the original is overly loose ; quoted after Scott Yanow, allmusic
- ↑ a b c B. Priestley Mingus , p. 195
- ↑ See Todd Jenkins, the Music of Charles Mingus.
- ^ B. Priestley Mingus , p. 201
- ↑ The A&R manager of Columbia, Steve Berkowitz, indicates in the liner notes that due to the poor technical quality there are unusable passages of the concert recording and therefore some passages from the rehearsal session were used, but gives no details.