Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk

Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk is a complex jazz composition by Charles Mingus .

History of origin

Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk was probably made in 1959 or 1960 for a half-hour TV drama directed by producer Robert Herridge under the title A Song of Orange in It . The story: A girl falls in love with a pianist, buys an orange dress and asks the pianist to compose a song for her dress, with the ulterior motive that nothing can rhyme with orange . Charles Mingus was commissioned by Robert Herridge to write the music for the film.

Recordings

A track Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk was first recorded by Charles Mingus on the LP Mingus Plays Piano ( Impulse! Records ) in July 1963, in a solo piano version, which, however, has the features of the Mingus composition Song with Orange featured . In a completely changed and expanded form, the piece was performed several times with Dolphy in the USA in 1964 and regularly on the European tour in April of that year. Producer Nat Hentoff considers the 1974 version with George Adams and Don Pullen to be the best - "moving, disturbing and reconciling".

Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk gained additional popularity through recordings by pianist and bandleader Gil Evans , who adapted it in 1977 and recorded it several times in the 1980s with his Monday Night Orchestra .

The small big band Orange Then Blue , founded in 1984 in Boston by George Schuller , has named itself after the piece. In 1987 she recorded the composition of Mingus with George Adams as a guest soloist.

Selection discography

• Charles Mingus: The Great Concert, Paris 1964 (1964)
• Charles Mingus: Mingus In Europe Volume 1 (Enja, 1964)
• Charles Mingus: Changes Two (Atlantic, 1974)
• Gil Evans: Priestess (Antilles, 1977)
• Gil Evans: Live at the Public Theater , Vol. Two (Black-Hawk, 1980)
• Gil Evans: Live at Sweet Basil, Part 1 (King, 1984)
• Gil Evans & Steve Lacy : Paris Blues (Owl, 1987)
• Orange Then Blue: Where Were You? (GM Recording, 1987)

literature

• Brian Priestley : Mingus: A Critical Biography London: Paladin, 2005, ISBN 0-586-08478-9
• Horst Weber , Gerd Filtgen: Charles Mingus, Gauting, Oreos (Collection Jazz)

Web links

• Brief portrait of the composition
• Orange then blue

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Herridge had also produced The Sound of Jazz (December 8, 1957) with Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Ben Webster and others as well as Dostojewsky´s Notes , source: Weber / Filtgen: Charles Mingus, p. 171
2. ↑ The play was broadcast on March 20, 1961. See. A Song With Orange in It in the Internet Movie Database (English) . Mingus had fallen out with the producer at the time of implementation. See Brian Priestley Mingus. A Critical Biography London 1985, pp. 114f.
3. ↑ cit. after Weber / Filtgen: Charles Mingus, p. 171
4. ↑ See Brian Priestley Mingus. A Critical Biography , p. 115
5. ↑ See portrait of the composition (jazz.com) ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. as well as Susan Mingus Liner Notes for Revenge , which like Priestley emphasizes that it is a completely different melody than the song with Orange recorded in 1959 , but it can be assumed that this piece was also written for the same production. 
6. ^ Changes Two (Liner Notes)
7. ↑ See Brian Priestley Mingus. A Critical Biography , p. 170