Can I recommend him Mingus´ "Three or Four Shades of Blues"?

[Gheorghe]

Hello friends !

Yesterday I visited an old friend with whom I share the passion of fly-fishing for trout and he gave me some of his self made flies and ...... to my surprise he spinned Miles´ Birth of the Cool.

He´s a vinyl freak but I didn´t know he listens to jazz, I had known he was more into rock.

He showed me the album covers of Bitches Brew and so on, so he seems to like some kind of our music too.

I´d like to make a present for him, I got the Mingus LP "Three or Four Shades of the Blues" with those guitars Larry Coryell and John Scofield and those really catchy tunes "Better Git it in Your Soul" and "Noddin´ Ya Head Blues". Since I have the CD I´d like to give him the LP:

I think if he likes some jazz and is into 70´s rock, he might like that side of Mingus too.

What do you think ?

I remember when I started to listen to jazz (early 70´s ) my first "heroes" was Miles and Mingus. I didn´t even know about other artists. So Mingus was something like a "bottom" for me and I´d like to offer that hearing experience also to my old fly-fishing friend and (maybe "new") jazz friend......

[JSngry]

That record sold really well. I wasn't that crazy about it myself, but it sold really well.

[Gheorghe]

Yes it sold well, I was and still am a hard core Mingus Fan and didn´t buy it first since I was not curious about hearing Mingus with fusion guitarists, but a year later I bought it .

My thought was, if the guy likes fusion and as a limited affinity to jazz  and likes Bitches Brew and obviously listens also to the old "Birth of the Cool", he might like it, or it might be a point of departure. Many rock freaks during my youth got acquainted to electric Miles and then said oh maybe I should listen also to some other earlier Miles too.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Fans of 70s rock will like Hancock's "Headhunters". There are several Pat Metheny or Mike Stern records that would fit the bill here. I've also found that they dig bombastic Blakey like "Free For All" or "Indestructible".

[sidewinder]

I remember hearing Herbie’s ‘Crossings’ playing on a high profile BBC1 radio show by ‘Fluff’ Freeman which did mainly prog rock by the likes of King Crimson, Gentle Giant etc. So yes, the Herbie music of that vintage would definitely fit the bill.

[kh1958]

It's not the best Mingus record obviously, but it is still a fine record. A good choice, in my opinion.

[paul secor]

Sorry to be a curmudgeon, but it would be one of the last Mingus recordings I'd recommend to someone.

[felser]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Sorry to be a curmudgeon, but it would be one of the last Mingus recordings I'd recommend to someone.

Me too, but it would seem to fit the bill here just fine.  And Mingus never made a boring album.  Early Larry Coryell records would work also.  I especially like 'Fairlyland', 'Barefoot Boy', and 'Offering'.

[clifford_thornton]

I think it's a fine gesture; "Noddin' Ya Head Blues" is pretty fun. 

[JSngry]

8 hours ago, felser said:

And Mingus never made a boring album. 

I dunno, that trio album with Hampton Hawes tends to bore the shit out of me.

If you want to give the guy some Mingus, give him some real Mingus. Booker Ervin plays "blues" a lot more intensely than any "rock" or "fusion" guitarist. Thinking otherwise is just wishful thinking and/or projection. So does Roland Kirk. Etc.

The album in question won't convert anybody. It'll get played a few times, "liked", and then put aside, remembered as a kind gesture of a gift from a friend. I mean, that's cool, but so is a nice wicker creel.

[felser]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

I dunno, that trio album with Hampton Hawes tends to bore the shit out of me.

If you want to give the guy some Mingus, give him some real Mingus. Booker Ervin plays "blues" a lot more intensely than any "rock" or "fusion" guitarist. Thinking otherwise is just wishful thinking and/or projection. So does Roland Kirk. Etc.

The album in question won't convert anybody. It'll get played a few times, "liked", and then put aside, remembered as a kind gesture of a gift from a friend. I mean, that's cool, but so is a nice wicker creel.

Understood on the Hawes trio album.  Give him "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady".  I came to jazz from 60's/early-70's rock, but immediately fell in love with that one anyways, and it is still the ultimate Mingus album for me, even though as far removed from rock as can be.

[Simon Weil]

A double album of Atlantic tracks hooked me on Mingus. it was the immediacy, lyricism and sheer power that got me - because, I suppose they reminded me of Rock, only more so.

[felser]

21 minutes ago, Simon Weil said:

A double album of Atlantic tracks hooked me on Mingus. it was the immediacy, lyricism and sheer power that got me - because, I suppose they reminded me of Rock, only more so.

"Haitian Fight Song" !!!

Edited March 2, 2018 by felser

[JSngry]

And before that, there was this.

[medjuck]

For me the archetypical Mingus album was Mingus Ah Um but it was the first one I owned. 

[JSngry]

 

[Gheorghe]

Thank you for your kind and very helpful advices !

About the idea to give him stronger pronounced 70´s rock jazz, I think that might be stuff he might have anyway, at least Herbie Hancocks Headhunters.

The point is I have some LPs I don´t play anymore since I got them  on CD.

About the "Three or Four Shades....", I didn´t buy it when it came out, when I first saw it I didn´t like the album cover, and the personnel (at least with Mingus), but one year later i bought it together with "Cumbia".

Anyway, I played it sometimes for people who don´t have their roots in acoustic jazz, and they liked it. My two sons when they were in their teens they liked it, especially the first side.

 

 

 

 

[Simon Weil]

...."Haitian Fight Song" !!!

Yup.

[felser]

9 hours ago, JSngry said:

 

I used to have a pet cat in the 90's that I named Mingus.  And ironically, he never reacted in any way to any other music I played,  but was fascinated by the cricket sounds at the beginning of Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, and absolutely freaked out at the Tenor calls in Hog Callin' Blues.

[JSngry]

[sidewinder]

11 hours ago, felser said:

"Haitian Fight Song" !!!

My first Mingus LPs 

[Guy Berger]

Mingus is one of those jazz artists who rock fans tend to connect with fairly easily.  Intense rhythms, memorable tunes, bluesy, "attitude".  I don't see a reason to go via a mediocre fusiony recording.  BLUES & ROOTS or MINGUS AH UM should do the trick.

[felser]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

1 - he wasn't nearly that clever.  Sweet but really dumb (sort of the polar opposite of Charles Mingus, I guess).

2 - I take it you're a dog person.

[JSngry]

That was Mingus' cat, Nightlife!

http://mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus/cat-traning-program

Used to be more of a cat person, but my wife is allergic. So we've always had dogs. Right now, I think I might prefer no pets, to be honest, but we have a rescue dog who's about a year old now. Smart as a whip, but not exactly the calmest person in the room.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

the only mingus as a leader i have in  my collection is the Uptown west coast jazz years cd