Charles Mingus' Bass

[kh1958]

http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?sectio...storycode=15212

Retro-Rama

Charles Mingus’s 1927 Ernst Heinrich Roth

By Dave Pomeroy | August 2006

After writing quite a few of these columns, it occurred to me that perhaps I would be missing the boat if I didn’t write about the original bass sound, the acoustic upright. But of course, I didn’t want to write about just any upright. Having seen various incarnations of the Mingus Big Band a few times during recent trips to New York City, I was blown away by the energy and spirit of the whole group, which is run efficiently by Charles Mingus’s widow, Sue Mingus, who has kept the flame burning since his 1979 death. In particular, I was really impressed with the bass work of Boris Kozlov, who does an amazing job filling legendary shoes, while bringing plenty of his own musical personality to the group. The first time I saw the band, I noticed immediately that he was playing Mingus’s famous “Lion’s Head” bass. Later that night, it struck me that this bass would be the perfect Retro-Rama subject.

Boris has “custody” of the bass, and when I was in New York recently, he was kind enough to let me spend some time with it before a Mingus Orchestra show and in between sets. Having heard its enormous sound on record so many times, I was somewhat surprised that it wasn’t ten feet tall! As a longtime Mingus fan, I can’t begin to put into words what a thrill it was to play “The Bass,” as Charles called it. There is a special aura about it, for sure, and I felt honored to be in its presence. But like all great instruments, it is meant to be played. Once I got over my awe sufficiently enough to pluck a few notes, the instrument sounded even and full, with no obvious “wolf tones” or dead spots. As you might imagine, I was very happy (and deeply moved) to play a few of my favorite Mingus licks on it, and I loved its big sound and comfortable feel.

Ernst Heinrich Roth, a second-generation instrument builder whose father founded the family business in 1877, built this bass in the late 1920s in Markneukirchen, Germany. The Roth is a e-size, 41w"-scale upright with a maple neck and headstock, and an ebony fingerboard. The body has a carved spruce top and flame-maple back and sides. The G string is quite close to the fingerboard edge, which may have facilitated Mingus’s unusual technique of “over bending” the G string, pulling it over the side of the neck for a percussive, almost flamenco-like sound that you can hear on many Mingus recordings.

No one seems to know exactly when Mingus acquired this bass, but in the documentary film Mingus: Charles Mingus 1968 he calls it the “Mingus Fingers” bass, referring to the tune he wrote and recorded with Lionel Hampton in 1947. He is seen playing it in numerous photos dating to that time period. The unique “Lion’s Head” carving (which has also been called the “Dragon’s Head”) is of unknown origin, but it’s definitely not original; it is easy to tell that it was carved from a typical scroll.

A fan of gut strings, Mingus used Golden Spiral strings on this bass. While Boris prefers steel strings, the instrument still has a big, warm, earthy sound. A great example of Boris’s tone on this bass can be heard on the latest Mingus Big Band Orchestra & Dynasty CD, I Am Three [sunnyside, 2005]—especially on the track “Tensions,” which he also arranged. The bass has been fitted with a David Gage pickup, which sounds great onstage with the Mingus Band. David did some work on this bass in the 1970s while Mingus was still alive, and he has continued to maintain it periodically for the Mingus estate. It has been damaged and repaired many times over the years but has survived surprisingly well, all things considered.

Special thanks go to Boris Kozlov, David Gage, and especially Sue Mingus for making this article possible. It is a beautiful, wondrous thing that this instrument, an icon of jazz music history, is still being played rather than collecting dust in a warehouse or sitting in a museum somewhere. Whenever the Mingus Big Band plays—whether in New York City or around the world—the spirit of Charles Mingus’s and his music is alive and well, and this bass is still making magic. Now, if it could only talk . . . .

Until next time, groove on, brothers and sisters!

[7/4]

Cool!

[JSngry]

Boris Koslov plays/played in Monday Michiru's group. Monday tells the story of him using that axe on one of her gigs and Sue getting all pissed because it's supposed to be used only on Mingus Big Band gigs. But between Monday & Alex Sipiagin (the MBB's lead trumeter & Monday's husband who was also on the gig) they patched things up.

[Rooster_Ties]

Speaking more generally, are there any other "original instruments" (owned by some since departed "name" musicians) that are being actively (or semi-actively) played by an active musician today??

For instance, it seems like I very vaguely remember that Wallace Roney may have (and play?) one of Miles' horns. (Or did I just imagine that somehow?)

Any other "famous horns" in active use today?? (Jazz, not classical.) I guess I should extend that drums, bass, piano, guitar, and anything else you'd care to name.

[sal]

For instance, it seems like I very vaguely remember that Wallace Roney may have (and play?) one of Miles' horns. (Or did I just imagine that somehow?)

You didn't imagine it....Wallace Rooney sometimes plays a trumpet that Miles gave him. I don't know the first thing about trumpets, but do remember that part of the trumpet is blue.

[Guy Berger]

kh, thanks mucho for posting that article!

Guy

[.:.impossible]

I remember Workman's bass was up on ebay a few years back. Maybe more than a few years back, now that I think of it.

I wonder who ended up with it.

[AllenLowe]

I got Bird's axe -

[king ubu]

And I thought that was Joe Maini's you got

[Hot Ptah]

Speaking more generally, are there any other "original instruments" (owned by some since departed "name" musicians) that are being actively (or semi-actively) played by an active musician today??

For instance, it seems like I very vaguely remember that Wallace Roney may have (and play?) one of Miles' horns. (Or did I just imagine that somehow?)

Any other "famous horns" in active use today?? (Jazz, not classical.) I guess I should extend that drums, bass, piano, guitar, and anything else you'd care to name.

I know that Richard Davis owns Jimmy Blanton's bass. I think that he has donated it to the University of Wisconsin, where he has taught since 1977.

[Guest youmustbe]

Scott LaFaro's bass was recovered from the car crash and repaired...I forget who has it now.

Of course, everybody had more than one bass, while Wilbur Ware didn't own one! He would borrow one, although that became a problem because he would hock it for drug money. Didn't matter, he would always get 'his' sound, no matter what the instrument. Edie Gomez when he goes on tour doesn't take his along. Plays what they give him on the gig. Like when he was in one of my bads in Italy and they gave him this real crappy, cheap bass. No problem, he got 'his' sound. Only time I saw him stumped was on same tour when they gave him a full size bass from a symphony player...Eddie's stubby fingers couldn't get much action out of it. Just thumped along!

As Ron Carter told me, "It's all in the fingers anyway'

[shrugs]

yeah,

it's all in the fingers.

One Too Many Salty Swift And Not Goodbye.

[mikeweil]

Wendell Marshall played Jimmy Blanton's bass - who got it after him?

Dexter Gordon got Ben Webster's tenor sax - and then?

I always think these instruments should be played rather than exposed in museums!

[jazzbo]

Wendell Marshall played Jimmy Blanton's bass - who got it after him?

Richard Davis, according to Hot Ptah's post above.

[marcello]

Scott LaFaro's bass was recovered from the car crash and repaired...I forget who has it now.

In the latest edition of the Jazzletter, LaFaro's mother gave it to Samuel Kolstein, who had reparied his basses. Kolstein never had the heart to restore it, so it sat unrepaired untill 1986, when is son Barrie Kolstein, repairied for the International Society of Bassists convention on 1988.

I assume that he still has it.

Now... I found this on the Web:

Kolstein, Barrie. “The 'LaFaro Prescott' Restoration” Bass World: The Journal of the International Society of Bassists, vol. XIV, no. 3 (Spring 1988), pp. 56-63. Illustrated.

Article discusses the second restoration by the author of Scott LaFaro's instrument damaged in his fatal automobile accident, July 6, 1961. The instrument was made by one Abraham Prescott of Concord NH, around 1801. It was obtained from LaFaro's colleague, bassist Red Mitchell. Another bassist, George Duvivier, introduced LaFaro around 1960 to the author's father, Samuel Kolstein, who did the initial restoration of LaFaro's Prescott bass.

Following the tragic death of LaFaro, Scott's mother, Mrs. Joseph R. LaFaro, offered her son's instrument to the senior Kolstein at a fair price with the hope that once again it would be “resurrected back to life as Scott would have wished it to be.” Disconsolate with the tragic loss of LaFaro, the senior Kolstein kept the instrument in storage until he could bring himself up to the task of restoration. The bass remained in storage for nearly a quarter century following the July 1961 accident. The author decided to complete the restoration so that the bass would be played again in the twenty-fifth year following LaFaro's death, in 1986.

Edited August 19, 2006 by marcello

[Guest youmustbe]

Thanks. 'It's all in the fingers'.

George Duvivier was a terrific bassist.

I remember when I was trying to play bass, a family friend called me and said,

"George Duvivier is here in my house, you want to come over and have him give you a lesson?' I was too scared and didn't go.