Mingus's most unappreciated album?

[Aggie87]

Anybody have "Three or Four Shades of Blues"? Worth seeking out?

[Guest akanalog]

jemeel mondoc has an album called "nostalgia in times square" with a nice version of said tune (with william parker, bern nix, rahn burton and dennis charles). i like the orginal mingus album a lot. definitely slept on.

and though it isn't a mingus album "money jungle" was one of my first jazz purchases and i still get pleasure from it many years later.

has anyone mentioned the mingus album with jane getz on piano? what is it called? that one is pretty decent. do i remember that john handy is on alto on that one? "live at the jazz workshop"? i liked that one.

edit to see that sterojack mentioned the jane getz one....

Edited August 12, 2006 by akanalog

[marcello]

That's Called "Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop" and yes, John Handy is on it.

Here is a photo I found with Jane Getz and Dannie Richmond:

and another:

and something more recent:

[jazzbo]

Anybody have "Three or Four Shades of Blues"? Worth seeking out?

Definitely my very least favorite Mingus album.

[paul secor]

Anybody have "Three or Four Shades of Blues"? Worth seeking out?

Definitely my very least favorite Mingus album.

My feelings also. I bought it when it was released on LP and got rid of it shortly thereafter.

[Aggie87]

Good to know, thanks! Maybe it's not Mingus' most unappreciated album, but maybe the worst (?).

I don't have alot of Mingus' later recordings, and have always been curious about how his music would sound with electric guitar. This one has also been on my radar due to Scofield's presence. But I stopped being a Scofield completist quite a while ago (though I do have all his leader dates, and still enjoy his work), as my tastes have broadened.

I guess if I bump into it cheap, I'll give it a try, but it's sure not high priority.

[kh1958]

Good to know, thanks! Maybe it's not Mingus' most unappreciated album, but maybe the worst (?).

I don't have alot of Mingus' later recordings, and have always been curious about how his music would sound with electric guitar. This one has also been on my radar due to Scofield's presence. But I stopped being a Scofield completist quite a while ago (though I do have all his leader dates, and still enjoy his work), as my tastes have broadened.

I guess if I bump into it cheap, I'll give it a try, but it's sure not high priority.

I disagree. It is actually pretty good. Larry Coryell sounds terrific throughout. It suffers by comparison to the preceding several records but it is worthy, in my opinion.

[Kreilly]

That's Called "Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop" and yes, John Handy is on it.

I love that second picture from the cover of her unreleased "Narcoleptic Piano".

[Bright Moments]

Is Mingus at Antibes appreciated?

Definitely appreciated here.

me likey! spinnin' it right now!

[clifford_thornton]

Jane Getz isn't that bad! She just didn't play well with Pharoah...

[RDK]

Some poor, inexperienced soul reading this thread out of context might think that Mingus was the most underappreciated jazz artist of them all!

[BruceH]

There's also East Coasting, another Bethlehem album that's not exactly well known, probably for the same reasons as the other one. Which label you record for can make a big difference.

[king ubu]

Bumping this up... just because there's no "general" Mingus thread, and I have for the first time heard "Charles Mingus & Friends in Concert". Quite like the Town Hall concert from 1962 it's rather a mess, but a great mess, in a positive, creative way. That blues at the end of the first half with Ammons is smoking! And Ammons in general turns in some great playing - quite a weird choice anyway, to get Ammons in there... though Konitz and Mulligan aren't that much likelier. And Jon Faddis doing that Eldridge piece is quite fun as well.

[JSngry]

...quite a weird choice anyway, to get Ammons in there... though Konitz and Mulligan aren't that much likelier.

Konitz, not really. It's a throwback to Mingus' early 50s Tristano-ist phase in general & their 1951 Debut session in particular!

[AllenLowe]

anybody mention Cumbia and Jazz Fusion?

[Hot Ptah]

Good to know, thanks! Maybe it's not Mingus' most unappreciated album, but maybe the worst (?).

I don't have alot of Mingus' later recordings, and have always been curious about how his music would sound with electric guitar. This one has also been on my radar due to Scofield's presence. But I stopped being a Scofield completist quite a while ago (though I do have all his leader dates, and still enjoy his work), as my tastes have broadened.

I guess if I bump into it cheap, I'll give it a try, but it's sure not high priority.

I disagree. It is actually pretty good. Larry Coryell sounds terrific throughout. It suffers by comparison to the preceding several records but it is worthy, in my opinion.

I like "Three or Four Shades of Blue". I don't like the bellowing vocals on "Better Git It In Your Soul", but otherwise I think it is a well played, soulful album, with good solos by Ricky Ford, Bob Neloms, Jimmy Rowles, George Coleman, Larry Coryell and Sonny Fortune.

It is not as great as his very best albums, but it is a good album.

I am not that fond of John Scofield's playing on the album, but Coryell and Phillip Catherine are appealing on it.

[Hot Ptah]

anybody mention Cumbia and Jazz Fusion?

That is a really good album, in my opinion.

[Stereojack]

anybody mention Cumbia and Jazz Fusion?

That is a really good album, in my opinion.

I'd say it is his last real masterpiece.

[kh1958]

Tonight at Noon, perhaps. It's a combination of unreleased tracks from two sessions recorded four years apart--but the title track and the complex composition Passions of A Woman Loved (from The Clown sessions), along with Peggy's Blue Skylight (featuring Rahsaan), and Invisible Lady (Knepper) (from the Oh Yeah sessions) make for a really fine record.

[Hot Ptah]

Tonight at Noon, perhaps. It's a combination of unreleased tracks from two sessions recorded four years apart--but the title track and the complex composition Passions of A Woman Loved (from The Clown sessions), along with Peggy's Blue Skylight (featuring Rahsaan), and Invisible Lady (Knepper) (from the Oh Yeah sessions) make for a really fine record.

That is an excellent album in its original vinyl configuration.

[Gheorghe]

anybody mention Cumbia and Jazz Fusion?

I love Cumbia and Jazz Fusion (this was in 1977). The other tune on that album "Music for Todo Modo" was recorded just the year before in Italy. It was the last occasion on which George Adams played with Mingus.

Actually I heard "Cumbia" live before we could buy the record. I´ll never forget that fantastic work with all those different sections and of course Mingus shouting his "rap" (Who said Mama´s lil baby likes shortnin´bread? ). Danny Richmond recorded it after Mingus´death, but I rather would have preferred to here a good live CD of that last group with Mingus performing the music he had composed then.

I still remember we all wondered what it was, since Mingus only announced "rite now we gonna play something we just recorded, it´s from a movie score". Few months later the record was for sale, but then I was disappointed since it´s quite over-produced. Then, I didn´t like all those flute and birdsounds on the beginning. Now I love that record, since it´s my only memory of what I saw in 1977.

[Gheorghe]

How about the two albums Mingus made in late 1970 in Paris? With McPherson, Bobby Jones, Jakie Byard and of course Mr. Richmond.

In general, those are considered as weaker recordings of Mingus, made after the long period when he was inactive.

During the 70´s I had those two LPs, last year I purchased a double CD with all that material (also alternative tracks).

Of course, I heard more interesting Mingus, but nevertheless it´s very good music.

[michel1969]

How about the two albums Mingus made in late 1970 in Paris? With McPherson, Bobby Jones, Jakie Byard and of course Mr. Richmond.

In general, those are considered as weaker recordings of Mingus, made after the long period when he was inactive.

During the 70´s I had those two LPs, last year I purchased a double CD with all that material (also alternative tracks).

Of course, I heard more interesting Mingus, but nevertheless it´s very good music.

Agreed. Pyhitcanthropus Erectus (sic) is definitely a good session.

Here's one of my favourite. With Booker Ervin performing an incredible solo on GBPPH. And Rolf Ericson is not bad, too. Too appreciated to match this topic ? Or over unappreciated ? Really don't know :

[king ubu]

...quite a weird choice anyway, to get Ammons in there... though Konitz and Mulligan aren't that much likelier.

Konitz, not really. It's a throwback to Mingus' early 50s Tristano-ist phase in general & their 1951 Debut session in particular!

True that - forgot about the fact that they'd recorded together (but not about the "cool" beginnings of Mingus,

anybody mention Cumbia and Jazz Fusion?

That is a really good album, in my opinion.

I'd say it is his last real masterpiece.

Might well be! A great album!

(And as an aside: Todo Modo is a great film, too - too bad they didn't use Mingus' score! Though the one they did use was quite well as I recall.)

How about the two albums Mingus made in late 1970 in Paris? With McPherson, Bobby Jones, Jakie Byard and of course Mr. Richmond.

In general, those are considered as weaker recordings of Mingus, made after the long period when he was inactive.

During the 70´s I had those two LPs, last year I purchased a double CD with all that material (also alternative tracks).

Of course, I heard more interesting Mingus, but nevertheless it´s very good music.

I always enjoy Bobby Jones! On the "& Friends in Concert" album he's obviously standing in the shade of Ammons, but still has a few good spots. His Enja trio album, "Hill Country Suite" (with Freddie Waits!) is marvellous! Sort of Jimmy Giuffre Three's folksy stuff re-channelled through Mingus... sort of, maybe...

[Hot Ptah]

How about the two albums Mingus made in late 1970 in Paris? With McPherson, Bobby Jones, Jakie Byard and of course Mr. Richmond.

In general, those are considered as weaker recordings of Mingus, made after the long period when he was inactive.

During the 70´s I had those two LPs, last year I purchased a double CD with all that material (also alternative tracks).

Of course, I heard more interesting Mingus, but nevertheless it´s very good music.

Those two albums were reissued on a Prestige "two-fer" in the mid- 1970s, as "Reincarnation of a Lovebird." It had a silver cover. Here is the best online image I can find of it:

It may seem unbelievable now, but it was not that easy to buy older jazz sessions in the 1970s. Not everything was in print, or reissued, by a long shot. So I was buying most of the Prestige "two-fers" as they came out, and bought that Mingus set. I always liked it a lot, too.