Charles Mingus - More than a Fakebook

Mr.Phil · #1 02-20-2006, 04:02 PM

Hi,
This is a question for anyone who has seen the book. I can't tell from the online reviews... Does the book contain just his bass transcriptions, just the heads to Mingus charts, or both? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

VTDB · #2 02-20-2006, 06:02 PM

The book is a collection of Mingus "lead sheets". I put that in quotations because a lot of Mingus' music is hard to notate and hard to whittle down into lead sheet form. It also has historical information about the compositions and offers some suggestions for performance (like how certain chords should be voiced et cetera).

Bruce Lindfield · #3 02-21-2006, 03:11 AM

So - the one I have, is the bass clef version which has all the tunes written out in bass clef and some written bass lines - although mostly chord charts so that you can improvise walking bass lines (etc.) as Mingus would have done.

There are no actual transcriptions of solos or improvised bass lines - just the written parts.

My copy also has two CDs - one for you to play along with... and one where the members of the Mingus big band plays some arrangements for small Jazz group

Aaron Saunders · #4 02-21-2006, 12:13 PM

This sounds basically the same as the Mingus: More Than A Play-A-Long. What's the difference? Difference in tunes?

PS: Good luck with playing these tunes. If for nothing else than Mingus is one of the only composers I've seen who fervently writes in ALL keys (except, apparently, the easy ones,) just looking at the structure and heads of some of those tunes makes my head spin. Dig the head to Reincarnation of a Lovebird -- 5 grace notes into a quarter? FIVE grace notes? Better leave the head to that one for the sax players...

Mr.Phil · #5 02-21-2006, 07:29 PM

Thanks for the information guys... I think I'll go ahead and get the book. I'm a little dissapointed that it doesn't contain his solos, but o well. I'm really just trying to take my JAZZ skills to the next level and with out the actual bass line transcriptions, I guess it'll be an ear training exercise as well. Thanks!

bikerbassplayer · #6 02-22-2006, 06:40 PM

I beleive a bass player by the name of Jeff Novac in
Hollywood has some Mingus transcriptions on his webb
site and they are free to download.

Mr.Phil · #7 02-22-2006, 07:05 PM

Thanks! I'll look into that.