The clown
| The clown | ||||
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| Studio album by Charles Mingus | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Atlantic | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
4th |
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running time |
40:41 (CD) |
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Studio (s) |
Audio-Video Studios, New York City |
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The Clown is a jazz album by Charles Mingus that was recorded by Tom Dowd in New York City in the spring of 1957 and released by Atlantic Records in August 1957 . The successor album of the Atlantic record Pithecanthropus Erectus confirmed Mingus avant-garde position in the jazz scene of that time. Mingus is complemented for the first time by his "alter ego" Dannie Richmond on drums, with whom he preferred to work in the following years.
The album
There are two classic Mingus compositions on the album: Haitian Fight Song and Reincarnation of a Love Bird .
The Blues Haitian Fight Song (which could also be called "Afro-American Fight Song " after Mingus) begins with a bass solo, and Mingus pushes Hadi and Knepper forward again and again with his energetic bass game with sudden changes in rhythm and tempo (all have solos except Richmond, also Mingus again in the second half). Richmond and Mingus work well together in the rhythm section.
Blues in Cee , the name speaks for itself, is a medium-paced jazz blues whose theme uses extremely reduced sheet music (initially based solely on the notes b and c). The piece Mingus had written for Celia Nielsen when she was still his wife contains solos by Hadi, Legge, Mingus, Knepper.
Reincarnation of a Lovebird is supposed to be reminiscent of Charlie Parker (called "Bird") according to Mingus , but does not allude to Parker's personal style, but rather reflects the feeling of Mingus for him in a piece that is structured in the song form AABA. After an introduction, which echoes typical Bird passages, the topic is presented quite mysteriously and laying back in unison by Knepper and Hadi. This is followed by solos by Hadi, Legge and Knepper.
The Clown is one of Mingus' experiments with poetry, performed improvising by the conference and writer Jean Shepherd and mainly accompanied by Knepper on the trombone (but Hadi and Legge also have solos) and commented, with repeated quotes that are supposed to be reminiscent of circus music . After his liner notes, Mingus wanted to tell the story of a clown who, like most jazz musicians, tried to entertain people, but who nobody likes until he is dead. My version ended up blowing his heart out while people laughed and ended up being entertained thinking it was part of the show. In the spoken text by Shepherd this is modified a little: the clown climbs into increasingly daring numbers to make people laugh and has an accident at his greatest success.
Rolling Stone magazine voted the album 99th in its 2013 list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums .
Track list
- Haitian Fight Song (Mingus) - 11:57
- Blue Cee (Mingus) - 7:48
- Reincarnation of a Lovebird (Mingus) - 8:31
- The Clown (Mingus) - 12:29
The De Luxe edition of Rhino Entertainment 2000 also includes those recorded at the same session as tracks 1, 2 and 3:
- Passions of a Woman Loved (Mingus) - 9:52
- Tonight at Noon (Mingus) - 5:57
(These bonus tracks were previously released on the Atlantic album Tonight at Noon in 1965 ).
Recorded on February 15, 1957 (4) and March 12, 1957. All compositions are by Mingus. The record was not released until 1961 and reissued in 1984. At the first recording session, a first (discarded) version of Reincarnation of a Lovebird was played, which has not yet been published.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrew Homzy , in: Charles Mingus, More Than a Fake Book. Hal Leonard Corporation 1991 ISBN 0-7935-0900-9 , p. 13
- ↑ Horst Weber / Gerd Filtgen Charles Mingus: His life, his records, his music . Oreos, Gauting, n.d. (1984). P. 99 f
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
- ↑ cf. Mingus Discography Project