Charles Mingus with Orchestra

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Charles Mingus with Orchestra
Studio album by Charles Mingus

Publication
(s)

1971

Label (s) Nippon Columbia

Format (s)

LP / CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

3

running time

32:14

occupation
chronology
Blue Bird
(1971) 		Charles Mingus with Orchestra Let My Children Hear Music
(1972)

Charles Mingus with Orchestra is a jazz album by Charles Mingus that was composed on January 14, 1971 in Japan and was released on Nippon Columbia . Mingus was accompanied by Toshiyuki Miyama's big band New Herd, which was popular in Japan at the time . The Mingus biographer Brian Priestley describes the recording as "one of the Mingus albums that you can safely forget."

background

Shortly before the turn of 1970/71, after an engagement in the London Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club , the pianist Jaki Byard left Charles Mingus' band because of teaching obligations in the United States; shortly thereafter, Al Hicks replaced longtime Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond , who played in the folk rock jazz band Mark-Almond . In December 1970, the Mingus band was engaged in the New York clubs Slug’s and Baron's, before the bassist went on a tour of Japan in a quartet formation in early January; Mingus played with Eddie Preston , Bobby Jones and Al Hicks. Visitors to the first concert in Tokyo’s Sunkyo Hall on January 3, 1971 saw the band “in a desperate state. Mingus appeared weakened and aged by years. Al Hicks was in no way a substitute for Dannie Richmond and Jaki Byard's absence was also palpable. "

With this line-up (but without Hicks, whom Mingus sent back to the USA), a six-hour recording session for Nippon Columbia was scheduled after the seven concerts, during which Mingus and his musicians met Toshiyuki Miyama's New Herd and Japanese soloists. For this album, Jaki Byard had prepared the arrangements; instead of Hicks, Yoshisaburo Toyozumi played the drum part; Masahiko Sato sat at the piano . This kept the drummer from listening to Mingus' timing because it was not "right". Bobby Jones later said: “It was a disaster. The orchestra had a completely different time feeling, we were totally apart. "

Track list

  • Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus with Orchestra (Nippon Columbia NCB-7008)
  1. The Man Who Never Sleeps - 16:29
  2. OP - 8:19 am
  3. Portrait - 7:28
  • All compositions are by Charles Mingus.
  • The recordings were published as a compact disc in 1990 (Denon DC-8565), but without authorization.

reception

The reviews of the album were largely negative; Thom Jurek only rated the album in Allmusic with three (out of five) stars and said the music was great, but not overly inspired; it is not yet the starting point of the last (great and controversial) phase in which the bassist composed for larger ensembles.

Also in Allmusic, Scott Yanow only gave the recording of an “obscure session” two points: Toshiyuki Miyama and his New Herd are an excellent big band, but too little happens to be remembered; therefore the album is not essential at all, but only interesting for Mingus completeists.

For the Mingus biographers Horst Weber and Gerd Filtgen, the “end result [...] is so unpleasant that you can save yourself details, it sounds like the production of a mediocre radio orchestra that has brought in a few guest soloists . The record was only put on once and is therefore a rarity in its own way. It is sold very dearly among Mingus fans, but it is not worth the money. "

Even Richard Cook & Brian Morton awarded in The Penguin Guide to Jazz album only two (of four) stars; it is a "pretty boring record", recorded with a well-practiced but uninspired big band.

Tim Ryan was more interested in the album; After Charles Mingus' comeback in 1970 it was "not yet a return to the old form, but a good start". Mingus itself sounds great; his solos are supple and fluid, and even if the arrangements are not exactly earth-shattering, the orchestra takes it easy in large parts of "The Man Who Never Sleeps", Preston and Mingus play an extended nice duet. "It's not a masterpiece, but With Orchestra is very beautiful."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brian Priestley: Mingus. A Critical Biography. Quartet Books, London, Melbourne, New York City ISBN 0704322757 , pp. 183 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Horst Weber, Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus. His life, his music, his records. Gauting-Buchendorf: Oreos, undated, ISBN 3-923657-05-6 , p. 159 ff.
  3. ↑ http://mingus.onttonen.info/details/cy1388.html
  4. ^ Review of the album Charles Mingus With Orchestra by Thom Jurek on Allmusic . Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Review of the album Charles Mingus With Orchestra by Scott Yanow on Allmusic . Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  6. ^ Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette . 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-017949-6 .
  7. ↑ http://www.furious.com/perfect/mingus2.html