Mingus (Charles Mingus album)

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Mingus! is an album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus. The album was recorded in October and November 1960 in New York for Nat Hentoff's Candid label.

At this time Mingus was working regularly with a piano-less quartet featuring Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond, as heard on the Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus album also recorded in November 1960. The Mingus! album features one track, "Stormy Weather", recorded by the same quartet, plus two tracks recorded by a larger group featuring piano and additional horns.

The track "M.D.M." weaves together the themes from three compositions: Duke Ellington's "Main Stem", Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" and Mingus's own "Fifty-First Street Blues". The track "Lock 'Em Up" was inspired by an apparently involuntary period of treatment Mingus underwent at New York's Bellevue psychiatric facility.

Track listing

1. "M.D.M. (Monk, Duke and Me)" – 19:49
2. "Stormy Weather"* – 13:23
3. "Lock 'Em Up (Hellview of Bellevue)" – 6:40

All compositions by Charles Mingus except * by Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler

Personnel

• Charles Mingus – bass
• Ted Curson, Lonnie Hillyer– trumpet
• Jimmy Knepper, Britt Woodman - trombone
• Charles McPherson - alto saxophone
• Eric Dolphy – alto saxophone, flute and bass clarinet
• Booker Ervin - tenor saxophone
• Nico Bunick, Paul Bley - piano
• Dannie Richmond – drums

References