Mingus (album)

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Mingus
Mingus cover
Studio album by Joni Mitchell
Released June 1979
Recorded  ???
Genre Folk jazz, Vocal jazz
Length 37:20
Label Asylum
Producer(s) Joni Mitchell
Professional reviews
Joni Mitchell chronology
Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
(1977)		 Mingus
(1979)		 Shadows and Light
(1980)


Mingus is the tenth studio album by Joni Mitchell, Asylum Records catalogue item 5E 505, and a collaboration with jazz musician Charles Mingus. Recorded in the months before his death, it would be Mingus' final musical project. It peaked at #17 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

All of the lyrics are by Mitchell, while the music for four of the songs was composed by Mingus, three being new tunes, a fourth being his tribute to saxophonist Lester Young from his 1959 classic Mingus Ah Um, "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," Mitchell having penned a fresh set of words to go with the song for the occasion. The album itself is quite experimental, featuring minimalist jazz, overplucked, buzzing acoustic guitars, and even wolves howling through "The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey."

For the second album in a row, Mitchell hired the personnel of the jazz fusion group Weather Report without their co-leader Josef Zawinul to play on the sessions. Mingus would also mark the first reunion of saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Herbie Hancock in the studio since their spell as members of the Miles Davis band in 1969, although they had toured together as part of the tribute project for the Davis Quintet of the late 1960s, V.S.O.P.

The album is spliced with excerpts (labelled "(Rap)") from tape recordings provided by Sue-Graham Mingus, including a scat singing interplay between Joni and Mingus, and Charles and Sue arguing over his age at a birthday party. In "Funeral", Mingus and others discuss how long he'll live and what his funeral will be like. He refers to the Vedanta Society and asserts that "I'm going to cut Duke!" As it turned out, Ellington lived twenty years longer than Mingus.

"God Must Be A Boogie Man" was the only song Mingus was unable to hear, having taken shape two days after his death; Mitchell posits in the liner notes that Mingus would have found it hilarious.

The artwork features several paintings by Mitchell of Mingus. It was remastered in HDCD and reissued on the Asylum imprint on March 21, 2000.

[edit] Track listing

All lyrics by Mitchell; music by Mitchell except where indicated

  1. "Happy Birthday 1975" (Rap) – 0:57
  2. "God Must Be A Boogie Man" – 4:35
  3. "Funeral" (Rap) – 1:07
  4. "A Chair in the Sky" – 6:42 (Mingus)
  5. "The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey" – 6:35
  6. "I's a Muggin'" (Rap) – 0:07
  7. "Sweet Sucker Dance" – 8:04 (Mingus)
  8. "Coin in the Pocket" (Rap) – 0:11
  9. "The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines" – 3:21 (Mingus)
  10. "Lucky" (Rap) – 0:04
  11. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" – 5:37 (Mingus)

[edit] Personnel

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