Charles Mingus – ‘Mingus’

“Mingus” was recorded in 1960 and includes three extra tracks, forty minutes of music, which were recorded at the same time as the “Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus” album. One, the 1933 Arlen/ Koehler classic “Stormy Weather”, features the same pianoless quartet as on the “Presents” album, and the other two are for larger ensemble. “Mingus” was produced by the A&R director of Candid at the time, Nat Hentoff, who also provided the lengthy and informative liner note. This release is in a Candid series entitled “Produced By Nat Hentoff – Candid 1960-61” and has been remastered from the original tapes.

The CD opens with “MDM”, a 20-minute blues which is an amalgamation of Monk’s “Straight No Chaser” and Ellington’s “Mainstem”. We hear full-throated solos by Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Knepper, Britt Woodman, Ted Curson and Lonnie Hilyer, all of whom sparkle throughout, sustaining this lengthy track with their verve and forward motion.

This is followed by a 13-minute treatment of “Stormy Weather, Dolphy’s alto can be heard to great effect embracing a balladic lyricism, hardly a quality one normally associates with Dolphy, say, on his own recordings as leader, or those with John Coltrane’s groups from the mid 1960s.

Another blues, “Lock Em Up”, incorporates Bird’s “Relaxin At Camarillo” (played by McPherson). The title presumably refers to Charlie Parker’s 6-month stay at the California State mental hospital in 1945 – or possibly Mingus’s own period of incarceration at the Bellevue psychiatric facility. Tenor saxist Booker Ervin takes the solo honours on this urgent and impassioned outing.

While recorded in a studio, Mingus decided to set a mood that might resemble a night club in hopes to capture the fierceness the musicians had been exploring on stage. “I finally realised that lots of jazz records don’t make it because the guys almost unsoundly cage their approach in a studio from what they do every night on the job,” said Mingus. Despite the raucous and lack of cohesiveness on the three tracks, there are many marvellous moments to treasure here. Don’t let the 40-minute playing time put you off. This is an important release.