Charles Mingus - Blues and Roots

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

Top Notch

This is a Jazz album to savour, recorded in New York in 1959 it has the right ingredients.

This swings like hell. In fact, in the fascinating original sleeve notes by Mingus he says that to some extent this album was a reaction to the critics who said he didn't swing enough. As Mingus rightly points out though the blues can do more than just swing.

It has many top quality musicians including Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin, Horace Parlan, Mal Waldron and Pepper Adams.

Of course this being Mingus he manages to incorporate a little dissonance in his own unique way and the whole album is, well funky (can't think of another word to describe it).

I've had this recording for years now and have only just started listening to it again. Its lost none of its power. A Fabulous recording.
November 22, 2008

A clarification

Pianist Horace Parlan isn't really repetitious, in the context of the Charismatic Church (Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting). He's "tarrying", saying "thank you Jesus" or the like over and over to invoke the Holy Spirit, or while getting the Spirit. IMO. North/South Convergence October 15, 2007

Charles Mingus: Blues & Roots

For as long as I've known about Charles Mingus, I've felt that he was sort of the Captain Beefheart of Jazz. If that assessment is correct, then Blues and Roots must be Mingus' Safe As Milk. It's his attempt to play the music at the roots of his tradition (jazz), but he is literally unable to play it straight; he's too restlessly inventive for that. He has no choice but to put his own unique, wild, hard-edged spin on things. Which makes them all the better. If straight, swingin', big band jazz is what you want, you shouldn't be looking at Mingus -- for that, check out Ellington, Bassie, or Armstrong. But if you want to hear an enjoyably modern and wacky take on the Gospel/Swing/Ragtime/Dixieland roots of jazz, then you're looking at the right album. Sure, hardcore Mingus fans will complain that this album is not avant-garde enough. Fans of rock and roll or pre-war jazz will probably think it's *too* avant-garde. But the lucky few who can put aside their expectations and just listen will be amply rewarded.

By the way, although I haven't heard the unremastered version and therefore cannot make comparisons regarding sound quality, it's well worth the extra couple of dollars to get the four bonus tracks of the remastered version. The "Old Jelly Roll Soul" outtake - a full 11 minutes long, more than double length of the original album version - is a highlight of the whole CD, not just of the bonus tracks. May 19, 2007

I should like this more...

Okay, I like my Mingus bluesy and rootsy. So why isn't this one of my favorite Mingus albums? To be honest, I'm not quite sure. But I only see two of these compositions as particularly revealing or brilliant: the gutbucket gospel/blues Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (which even then is better heard on At Antibes, in my mind Mingus' finest work) and the characteristically wild E's Flat Ah's Flat Too. On the other hand, My Jelly Roll Soul and Cryin' Blues are two of the least interesting Mingus compositions of all time, with little by way of creativity, fine performances or weird melodies that I associate with Mingus.
Perhaps it was just because he didn't really perfect the bluesy approach until the Oh Yeah/Ah Um period, which was still a couple years away at this point (in 1959, Mingus was still steeped in the avant-garde - this was the time of The Clown and Pithecanthropus Erectus, two far surperior albums, after all). Regardless, I see this as a mere footnote in the Mingus catalogue, rather than a dominant presence. March 14, 2007

Moanin'

This is one of the all-time great Mingus albums, recorded around the same time as the better-known Mingus Ah Um. There's enough of a similarity between them that fans of one will almost certainly like the other, but they each have a different focus. Ah Um is a great introduction to Mingus's scope as a composer; Blues & Roots is more narrow, focusing on grittier material influenced by gospel and the blues. Blues & Roots also has a slightly larger ensemble than Ah Um, with two trombones and four saxophones present on each track.

"Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" starts things off. Though quite similar to "You'd Better Git It in Your Soul", its melody is more simple. However, the ensemble playing is white hot and Booker Ervin takes another one of his "sermon" solos over handclaps. "Cryin' Blues" is the shortest track and features intense playing by Jackie McLean. "Moanin'", my personal favorite on the album, begins with a naaaaaaaasty baritone riff by Pepper Adams that slowly expands into raucous collective improvisation by the group. "Tensions" is a similar tune, though at a slightly lower temperature. "My Jelly Roll Soul" is almost exactly the same tune as "Jelly Roll" from Ah Um. "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" (recorded elsewhere as "Hora Decubitus") closes the album with a blistering, swinging ride.

The strength of the album, besides the memorable riff-based compositions, is the blending of collective improvisation with strong solo performances. Ervin, McLean, Adams, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis are the perfect frontline for this kind of mix, and Mingus is just the right "conductor" to kick things along. If you like Mingus, or are merely curious about his music, Blues & Roots is essential listening.

(One caveat: the sound on this deluxe edition, as on most Atlantic jazz albums from this period, is terrible.) August 14, 2006

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