Mingus Ah Um

MaskedJackal · #1 10-03-2005, 11:51 PM

It's just....profound. The Columbia remaster is wonderful. And those horn arrangements? Hot damn. I'm lovin' the Mingus. How bout you?

peteroberts · #2 10-04-2005, 02:19 PM

I love that record. I also dig Pithecanthropus Erectus. Have you heard that one?

MaskedJackal · #3 10-04-2005, 02:28 PM

No...I'm just getting into his stuff. I'll be getting more soon, but the Atheist reissues are a monetary priority as of now....

I hear it's good though.

bobyoung53 · #4 10-04-2005, 02:31 PM

I've had that one for a long time, it was one of the first jazz records I liked and really opened my mind to it. I have a lot of his stuff now and it's all great. Pithecanthropus Erectus is also another really great one.

Matt Till · #5 10-04-2005, 03:20 PM

All I have is the Ken Burns best of Mingus. Truely amazing. It's strange how the best jazz composers tend to be bassists.

Jimbo · #6 10-04-2005, 03:24 PM

yep, mingus ah um is a truly great album

-jimbo

The Owl · #7 10-05-2005, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peteroberts

I love that record. I also dig Pithecanthropus Erectus. Have you heard that one?

My absolute FAVORITE Mingus record, period! Ah-Um is pretty darned amazing too, but there's just something about Pithecanthropus Erectus that really spoke to me, and I heard it first when I was but a lad of 6!

I haven't been the same since.

spc · #8 10-07-2005, 02:02 AM

Lovin' the Mingus!
I dig Tijuana Moods.

Richard Lindsey · #9 10-08-2005, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

All I have is the Ken Burns best of Mingus. Truely amazing. It's strange how the best jazz composers tend to be bassists.

You mean like Ellington, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim? Those bassists?

Actually, very few of the great jazz composers in the pantheon, so far, are bassists. AFAICS, Mingus is the only one. So far, anyway. That's not to say there aren't bassists now who are doing good work, because there are--like Ben Allison, for example. But if you're talking about the faces that would be up there if someone were making a jazz composer Mt Rushmore right now, Mingus would be the only bassist represented.

Richard Lindsey · #10 10-08-2005, 10:50 PM

Besides those mentioned, I also love Changes One and Changes Two. And Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. And Let My Children Hear Music doesn't get the love it deserves IMO.

MaskedJackal · #11 10-08-2005, 11:16 PM

"Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" was what got me hooked.

Aaron Saunders · #12 10-09-2005, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey

You mean like Ellington, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim? Those bassists?

Actually, very few of the great jazz composers in the pantheon, so far, are bassists. AFAICS, Mingus is the only one. So far, anyway. That's not to say there aren't bassists now who are doing good work, because there are--like Ben Allison, for example. But if you're talking about the faces that would be up there if someone were making a jazz composer Mt Rushmore right now, Mingus would be the only bassist represented.

You rattle off a list of composers including Wayne Shorter, and then say that Mingus is the only bassist composer? Look no farther than the 65-68 Miles Quintet for (excellent) Ron Carter compositions sandwiched between some of Shorter's own best works.

Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland...do I need to go on?

That said, Mingus is my favourite of them all. Incredible man. Also dig his sideman playing on Jazz at Massey Hall 1953 with Bird, Diz, Max, and Bud. Reading ABOUT Mingus (there are several books, but most importantly his autobiography) will really deepen how much you feel his music, too. If you ever get serious about wanting to play his stuff, I highly reccomend the Mingus -- More Than a Playalong. Transcribed tunes with recordings by members of the Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Big Band.

Richard Lindsey · #13 10-09-2005, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Saunders

You rattle off a list of composers including Wayne Shorter, and then say that Mingus is the only bassist composer? Look no farther than the 65-68 Miles Quintet for (excellent) Ron Carter compositions sandwiched between some of Shorter's own best works.

Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland...do I need to go on?

That said, Mingus is my favourite of them all. Incredible man. Also dig his sideman playing on Jazz at Massey Hall 1953 with Bird, Diz, Max, and Bud. Reading ABOUT Mingus (there are several books, but most importantly his autobiography) will really deepen how much you feel his music, too. If you ever get serious about wanting to play his stuff, I highly reccomend the Mingus -- More Than a Playalong. Transcribed tunes with recordings by members of the Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Big Band.

Come on, Aaron, you're not reading what I actually said, and you're putting words in my mouth. I never said Mingus was the only bassist composer. If you think I did, show me where I said it. I'll wait. In fact, I said the opposite--that there are good bassist composers working right now. I even gave an example.

What I did say is Mingus is the only bassist in the pantheon of great jazz composers. And as far as I can see, he is. SO FAR, as I said (twice). To be considered a great composer--not simply someone who wrote some good tunes--IMO, not only do you have to be *really* good, you have to be really good over a whole career, and people have to keep playing your tunes long after you wrote them. I yield to no one in my respect for Pettiford, Brown, Carter, Haden, and Holland as bassists, but IMO *as composers* (rather than players), they either never got there or aren't there yet.

Aaron Saunders · #14 10-10-2005, 09:00 AM

Aye, my fault. I didn't read the whole last paragraph.

That said, now that I read the whole thing, I totally agree with you! Good points.

Richard Lindsey · #15 10-10-2005, 09:33 AM