Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus (April 22, 1922 - January 5, 1979) was an American jazz bassist, composer, bandleader, and occasional pianist. He is also known for his activism against racial segregation.

Related Topics:
April 22 - 1922 - January 5 - 1979 - Jazz - Bassist - Composer - Bandleader - Pianist - Activism - Racial segregation

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Mingus's legacy is enormous: he is generally ranked among the finest jazz composers and performers ever. Many Mingus albums are easily available; most are highly regarded. Dozens of musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. His songs – though melodic and distinctive – are not often recorded by later musicians, due in part to their challenging nature. Mingus was also influential and creative as a bandleader, recruiting talented and sometimes little-known artists whom he assembled into unconventional and revealing configurations.

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Mingus is nearly as well known for his volatile temperament as for his ambitious music. His refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many onstage explosions, though it has been argued that his temper grew also from his desire to vent frustration. Ironically, a perfect show could irritate him by closing this outlet.

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Mingus was prone to depression (possibly manic depression). He tended to have brief periods of extreme creative activity, intermixed with fairly long periods of greatly decreased output.

Related Topics:
Depression - Manic depression

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Most of Mingus's music retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop, and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third Stream Jazz and free jazz. Yet Mingus avoided categorization, forging his own unique brand of music that fused tradition with unique and unexplored realms of jazz. Mingus focused on collective improvisation, similar to the old New Orleans Jazz parades, he paid particular attention to how each band member interacted with the group as a whole. In creating his bands, Mingus looked not only at the skills of the available musicians, but also their personalities. He strived to create unique music to be played by unique musicians.

Related Topics:
Hard bop - Gospel music - Third Stream Jazz - Free jazz

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Mingus is often considered the heir apparent to Duke Ellington, for whom he expressed unqualified admiration. In the early 1950s, before attaining commercial recognition as a bandleader, he played a number of live bookings with Charlie Parker, whose compositions and improvisations greatly inspired and influenced Mingus. Mingus considered Parker the greatest genius and innovator in jazz history, but he had a love-hate relationship with Parker's legacy. Mingus blamed the Parker mythology for a derivative crop of pretenders to Parker's throne. He was also conflicted and sometimes disgusted by Parker's self-destructive habits and the romanticized lure of drug addiction they offered to other jazz musicians.

Related Topics:
Duke Ellington - Charlie Parker

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