Pre-Bird

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Charles Mingus
Studio album by Charles Mingus

Publication
(s)

1960

Label (s) Mercury Records , Solid State

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

8th

running time

35:12

occupation
  • Flute : Paul Di Domenica (4,7,8)
  • Oboe : Harry Shuman (4,7,8)
  • Singing : Lorraine Cousins ​​(3.5)

production

Leonard Feather

Studio (s)

Plaza Sound , New York City

chronology
Mingus Dynasty
(1959)
Charles Mingus Mingus In Antibes
(1960)

Pre-Bird is a jazz album by Charles Mingus . The album, recorded in 1960, was first released on Mercury Records . The recordings for this record were made on May 24th and 25th, 1960 in two different sized casts.
Under the title Mingus Revisited , the record was released again in 1965 by the Mercury sub-label Limelight.

The plate

One of the experiments Charles Mingus played with in 1960 was the simultaneous use of two melodies based on similar harmonic structures. So far this has only been attempted by a few - including Duke Ellington - "but never with more logic and creativity than on the two tracks ( Take The" A "Train, Do Nothin 'Till You Hear From Me ) on Pre-Bird ," says producer Leonard Feather in the "liner notes".

In the first piece, the Billy Strayhorn number Take the "A" Train is combined with Jimmy McHugh's classic Exactly Like You . This is solved brilliantly, especially since the harmony sequences of the two pieces are not identical. The "single-note" piano lines are the work of Roland Hanna . Joe Farrell has the first tenor solo. A trombone solo by Jimmy Knepper is followed by other solos by Booker Ervin and Yusef Lateef .

The other “double track” is an Ellington composition on both stereo channels: Lateef, Booker Ervin and Eric Dolphy with Do Nothin 'Till You Hear From Me can be heard on the left channel, while Ted Curson and Jimmy are heard on the right channel Knepper and Joe Farrell respond with I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart .

In the piece Prayer For Passive Resistance you can hear Mingus' early experiences in the “Sanctified Church”: Here the roots of blues and gospel are dynamically welded together, with Yusef Lateef on tenor as “chief preacher”. The sudden 12/8 change in time into Lateef's solo is a typical element of surprise in Mingus' music.

Eclipse and Weird Nightmare set the stage for the relatively unknown singer Lorraine Cousins. Feather knew her from working for Serge Chaloff ; but it apparently disappeared from the jazz scene soon afterwards. Cousins ​​manage to find their way into the more difficult compositions by Charles Mingus relatively well. On Eclipse , Roland Hanna plays a piano interlude in George Gershwin style ; on Weird Nightmare is a solo by Yusef Lateef.

Mingus fingus No. 2 breaks roughly with conventional big band concepts of the time. Mingus recorded the original Mingus Fingus on November 10, 1947 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Big Band. First tenor solo is by Joe Farrell, the second by Lateef.

Bemoanable Lady - Although the title echoes Ellington, this piece is tailored to the sound world of Eric Dolphys .

Half-Mast Inhibition , the only longer piece by Pre-Bird , is conducted by Gunther Schuller , recorded with a 22-person ensemble, complete with tuba, cello, woodwinds and additional drums. During this time, Schuller had made a name for himself as an active part of the Third Stream movement, in which jazz and classical elements were mixed. In contrast to many of his other compositions, Half-Mast Inhibition contains classical elements that are reminiscent of Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy and prove his preoccupation with the late romanticism. "Unlike other jazz works that contain classical elements, it has an inner unity and identity that makes it unnecessary to look for musical categories," said Leonard Feather about Half Mast Inhibition . In his opinion, this Third Stream composition shows "more than any other Mingus title (up to that time) the great genius of the man as band leader, author and composer".

The pieces

  1. Take the “A” Train ( Billy Strayhorn ) - Interpolation: Exactly Like You ((Jimmy McHugh / Dorothy Fields ) (3:24)
  2. Prayer For Passive Resistance (3:49)
  3. Eclipse (Mingus) (3:45)
  4. Mingus fingus No. 2 (Mingus)
  5. Weird Nightmare (Mingus) (3:35)
  6. Do Nothin 'Till You Hear From Me (Duke Ellington / Bob Russell ) - Interpolation: I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart (Duke Ellington / Irving Mills )
  7. Bemoanable Lady (Mingus) 4:32)
  8. Half-Mast Inhibition (Mingus) (8:12)

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 were recorded in New York City on May 25, 1960, and tracks 4, 7 and 8 on May 24.

Edition history

In 1960 the recordings appeared on the Mercury LP Pre-Bird (MG-20627 (mono) / SR-60627 (stereo)) and were reissued on the Limelight label as Mingus Revisited in 1965 (LM-82015 (mono) / LS- 86015 (stereo)). EmArcy Records released the work on CD for the first time in 1990 under the title Mingus Revisited (826 496-2). In 1999 it appeared again in the Verve Master Edition under the title Pre-Bird (538 636-2). The spelling Pre Bird (without hyphen) is also occasionally found in jazz literature .

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