Mingus Ah Um
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| Studio album by Charles Mingus | ||||
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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12 |
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45:56 (LP), 72:33 (CD) |
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Mingus Ah Um is a jazz album by Charles Mingus that was recorded and released in 1959.
Name and design of the album
The title Mingus Ah Um is derived from a play on words with a donkey bridge to learn Latin forms. Students often learn Latin adjectives by pronouncing their masculine, feminine and neuter nominative singular forms (usually ending in "- us", "-a" and "-um") one after the other (for example the adjective "magnus": "magnus" "," -A "," - at "); this is pronounced like "magnus ah um". Another Mingus album title is also based on a play on words, " Mingus Dynasty ", after the Ming Dynasty .
The graphic design comes from S. Neil Fujita , who was also responsible for the design of the Dave Brubeck album Time Out , which was released at the same time .
The music
Better Git It in Your Soul is inspired by the gospel music Mingus may have heard as a child growing up in Watts, Los Angeles, California. With a band playing ecstatically, the bassist unleashes a "seething gospel hardbop branding" (as Horst Weber and Gerd Filtgen in the German Mingus biography); At times, however, the piece changes to waltz time. A solo by Parlan, which is haunting due to its constant repetitions, is ultimately followed by the climax of Booker Ervin's solo, where, like the preacher in the church, he is only accompanied by the rhythmically clapping ensemble.
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is a direct tribute to Lester Young , who died a few months before the album was released. The pork pie hat, a hat that owes its name to a resemblance to a meat pie, was the headdress of choice for Lester Young. For once, John Handy plays a solo on the tenor saxophone.
The origin of the Boogie Stop Shuffle is self-explanatory. It's a 12-bar blues with four themes and a boogie bass that is played at a medium tempo at first, then shifts to the slower pace and even comes to a Latin rhythm.
Self-Portrait in Three Colors was originally written for John Cassavetes ' first film, Shadows , but was not used there for financial reasons.
Open Letter to Duke is a tribute to Duke Ellington and is based in part on three earlier pieces by Mingus ( Nouroog , Duke's Choice and Slippers ). A fast-paced alto solo by John Handy is not included in the abridged version that was initially released.
Pussy Cat Blues pays homage to New Orleans jazz with a solo by John Handy on the clarinet. Jelly Roll is an obvious homage to Jelly Roll Morton . In contrast, Bird Calls , in Mingu's own words, was no homage to the bebop legend: “It wasn't supposed to sound like Charlie Parker. It was supposed to sound like birds - the first part. "
Fables of Faubus is named after Orval Faubus (1910-1994), the notorious governor of Arkansas who fought against desegregation at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas and President Eisenhower for the dispatch of the 101st Airborne Division ( against the National Guard). The composition, which sounds like a counting rhyme, is performed very lovely in this first recording of this Mingus classic and does not show the ironic bite of the recordings from the 1960s. During the piano solo, Mingus increases the tension by playing the bass twice as fast.
Reception and awards
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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| Rolling Stone |
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| All about jazz |
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| Down beat |
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| Penguin Guide to Jazz |
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The Penguin Guide to Jazz calls the album "an impressive tribute to the (musical) ancestors" and awarded one of its rare crowns for it. According to the German Mingus biographers Horst Weber and Gerd Filtgen, the album is "one of the most interesting records Mingus has ever recorded". Leonard Feather of Down Beat magazine gave the album the highest rating shortly after its release. He wrote:
"Mingus has something to say, knows how and through whom to say it, and it is all stated with communicative authority."
"Mingus has something to say, he knows how and by whom it is to be said, and everything is presented with communicative competence."
In 2003 Mingus Ah Um was inducted into the National Recording Registry .
In 2012 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .
Rolling Stone magazine voted the album at number 3 in its 2013 list of the 100 best jazz albums.
The magazine Jazzwise leads Mingus Ah Um 7th in the 100 Jazz Albums That Shook the World .
The pieces of the album
When Columbia released the album as an LP in 1959, six of the nine tracks were shortened to fit the length of a long-playing record. In 1979 these six pieces were restored to their original length. Together with three additional, originally unpublished pieces from the same recording sessions, they were released on the double LP Nostalgia in Time Square , and later also on CD.
The playing times in brackets refer to the shortened versions of the LP published in 1959:
- Better Git It in Your Soul - 7:21
- Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - 5:42 (4:46)
- Boogie Stop Shuffle - 4:59 (3:41)
- Self-Portrait in Three Colors - 3:08
- Open Letter to Duke - 5:49 (4:56)
- Bird Calls - 6:18 (3:12)
- Fables of Faubus - 8:13
- Pussy Cat Dues - 9:13 (6:27)
- Jelly Roll - 6:15 (4:01)
additional pieces on later re-releases
- Pedal Point Blues - 6:30
- GG Train - 4:39
- Girl of My Dreams - 4:08
All compositions by Charles Mingus, except for Girl of my Dreams , which is by Sunny Clapp .
Tracks 1 and 6-10 were recorded on May 5, 1959 ; Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City.
Pieces 2-5 and 11-12 were recorded on May 12, 1959 ; Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City.
swell
- Mingus Ah Um: 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition
- Horst Weber , Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus. His life, his music, his records. Oreos, Gauting-Buchendorf, undated, ISBN 3-923657-05-6
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary in The New York Times
- ↑ Review by Steve Huey on allmusic.com (accessed November 28, 2017)
- ↑ Review by Wolfgang Doebeling on rollingstone.de (accessed on November 28, 2017)
- ↑ Review by Matthew Miller on allaboutjazz.com (accessed November 28, 2017)
- ↑ a b Booklet for republication in the Poll Winners Records series of Down Beat magazine, 2010
- ↑ Penguin Guide To Jazz: Five Star Recordings ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on counterpoint-music.com (accessed May 31, 2018)
- ↑ Jeff Tamarkin: Coltrane, Mingus, Tristano Recordings Honored by Grammy Hall of Fame. (2012) In: ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. JazzTimes
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ↑ The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World on jazzwisemagazine.com (accessed May 31, 2018)
