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Charles Mingus: Blues Roots

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 1998
Time:
 69:28
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Nesuhi Ertegun
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.mingusmingusmingus.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2008.09.26
Price in €: 4,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (Ch.Mingus) - 5:39
[2] Cryin' Blues (Ch.Mingus) - 4:58
[3] Moanin' (Ch.Mingus) - 7:57
[4] Tensions (Ch.Mingus) - 6:27
[5] My Jelly Roll Soul (Ch.Mingus) - 6:47
[6] E's Flat Ah's Flat Too (Ch.Mingus) - 6:37
[7] Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting [alternate take] (Ch.Mingus) - 6:59
[8] Tensions [alternate take] (Ch.Mingus) - 5:18
[9] My Jelly Roll Soul [alternate take] (Ch.Mingus) - 11:25
[10] E's Flat Ah's Flat Too [alternate take] (Ch.Mingus) - 6:47

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Charles Mingus - Bass, Liner Notes

Pepper Adams - Baritone Saxophone
Willie Dennis - Trombone
Booker Ervin - Tenor Saxophone
John Handy - Alto Saxophone
Jimmy Knepper - Trombone
Jackie McLean - Alto Saxophone
Horace Parlan - Piano
Dannie Richmond - Drums
Mal Waldron - Piano

Nesuhi Ertegun - Producer
Tom Dowd - Engineer
Lee Friedlander - Photography
Stephen Innocenzi - Mastering

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s

1987 CS Atlantic 1305
1990 CD Atlantic SD-1305-2
1990  CS Atlantic CS-1305
2002 CD Warner Bros. 8122736172
1998 CD Rhino 75205
1998 CD Warner France 275360

Mingus goes to church. A thrilling album of blues and spirituals Mingus style. This 1959 Atlantic recording certainly ranks among his very best. Memorable performances of some of the bassist's most soulful tunes such as "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too". Mingus is joinedby an exuberant ensemble including a stellar saxophone section of Jackie McLean, John Handy, Booker Ervin, and Pepper Adams.



Bassist Charles Mingus was always ready for a good fight. In the liner notes to this disc, Mingus says he wanted to respond to critics who said he didn't swing enough. And reply he did. Mingus gave whoever these absurd quibblers were some of the most ecstatic blues ("Moanin'" and "Cryin Blues"), gospel ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting"), and Dixieland ("My Jelly Roll Soul") the jazz world has ever heard. Along with his striking original compositions, the instrumental combination in Mingus's nonet remains unconventional: the frontline included four saxophonists and two trombonists without the counterweight of a trumpeter. The leader's sliding-octave bass lines and percussive slaps are totally rollicking, and the wild abandon in the group's playing is irrepressible.

Aaron Cohen - Amazon.com essential recording



As bassist, pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and modern jazz mahatma, Charles Mingus had plenary control of all the expressive devices needed to manifest blues cries from the soul. The gospel blues 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and five more numbers on this famous 1959 release have his ten musicians' spontaneous phrases in perfect balance with his ingenious compositional turns.

© Frank John Hadley 1993
Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD



Der Bassist Charles Mingus war immer ein wenig streitsüchtig. Im Begleittext zu dieser Platte sagt er, er wolle auf seine Kritiker reagieren, die ihm vorwerfen, dass er nicht genügend swinge. Und wie er reagierte! Charles Mingus verabreichte allen diesen absurden Nörglern einen derart ekstatischen Blues ("Moanin'" and "Cryin Blues"), Gospel ("Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting"), und Dixieland ("My Jelly Roll Soul"), wie ihn die Jazzwelt noch selten gehört hat. Seine beeindruckenden Originalkompositionen bleiben ebenso unkonventionell wie die Zusammenstellung seiner neunköpfigen Band: Hierzu gehören in der vorderen Reihe vier Saxofonisten und zwei Posaunisten ohne das Gegengewicht eines Trompeters. Die gleitenden Oktaven und das rhythmische Zupfen des Bandleaders sind ganz und gar ausgelassen und die temperamentvolle Hingabe beim Spiel dieser Gruppe bleibt unbeirrbar.

Aaron Cohen - Amazon.de



In response to critical carping that his ambitious, evocative music somehow didn't swing enough, Charles Mingus returned to the earthiest and earliest sources of black musical expression, namely the blues, gospel, and old-time New Orleans jazz. The resulting LP, Blues and Roots, isn't quite as wildly eclectic as usual, but it ranks as arguably Mingus' most joyously swinging outing. Working with simple forms, Mingus boosts the complexity of the music by assembling a nine-piece outfit and arranging multiple lines to be played simultaneously - somewhat akin to the Dixieland ensembles of old, but with an acutely modern flavor. Anyone who had heard "Haitian Fight Song" shouldn't have been surprised that such an album was well within Mingus' range, but jazz's self-appointed guardians have long greeted innovation with reactionary distaste. After Blues and Roots, there could be no question of Mingus' firm grounding in the basics, nor of his deeply felt affinity with them. Whether the music is explicitly gospel-based - like the groundbreaking classic "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" - or not, the whole album is performed with a churchy fervor that rips through both the exuberant swingers and the aching, mournful slow blues. Still, it's the blues that most prominently inform the feeling of the album, aside from the aforementioned "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and the Jelly Roll Morton tribute "My Jelly Roll Soul." The recording session was reportedly very disorganized, but perhaps that actually helped give the performances the proper feel, since they wound up so loose and free-swinging. With a lineup including John Handy and Jackie McLean on alto, Booker Ervin on tenor, frequent anchor Pepper Adams on baritone, and Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis on trombones, among others, Blues and Roots isn't hurting for fiery soloists, and they help make the album perhaps the most soulful in Mingus' discography.

Steve Huey - All Music Guide
 

 L y r i c s


Instrumental.

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