Charles Mingus - Minor Intrusions [CD]

Mingus gained a reputation as a bass prodigy. His first major professional job was playing with former Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard. He toured with Louis Armstrong in 1943, and by early 1945 was recording in Los Angeles in a band led by Russell Jacquet, which also included Teddy Edwards, Maurice Simon, Bill Davis, and Chico Hamilton, and in May that year, in Hollywood, again with Teddy Edwards, in a band led by Howard McGhee.
He then played with Lionel Hampton’s band in the late 1940s; Hampton performed and recorded several of Mingus pieces. A popular trio of Mingus, Red Norvo and Tal Farlow in 1950 and 1951 received considerable acclaim, but Mingus’ race caused problems with club owners and he left the group. Mingus was briefly a member of Ellington’s band in 1953, as a substitute for bassist Wendell Marshall. Mingus’ notorious temper led to his being one of the few musicians personally fired by Ellington (Bubber Miley and drummer Bobby Durham are among the others), after a backstage fight between Mingus and Juan Tizol.

In 1959, Mingus and his jazz workshop musicians recorded one of his best-known albums, Mingus Ah Um. Even in a year of standout masterpieces, including Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue, John Coltrane’s Giant Steps, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come, this was a major achievement, featuring such classic Mingus compositions as “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” (an elegy to Lester Young) and the vocal-less version of “Fables of Faubus” (a protest against segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus that features double-time sections). In 2003 the album’s legacy was cemented when it was inducted into the National Recording Registry. Also during 1959, Mingus recorded the album Blues & Roots, which was released the following year. As Mingus explained in his liner notes: “I was born swinging and clapped my hands in church as a little boy, but I’ve grown up and I like to do things other than just swing. But blues can do more than just swing.” These recordings are from that seminal 1956-1957 period in which Mingus thrived.

Track Listing

1. Hamp’s New Blues (3:52)
2. I Can’t Get Star ted (6:27)
3. Yesterdays (4:11)
4. Laura (6:31)
5. Back Home Blues (5:28)
6. Summer time (4:36)
7. What Is This Thing Called Love (8:03)
8. Minor Intrusions (10:07)
9. Spur Of The Moment (8:31)
10. Four Hands (8:46)
11. Stormy Weather (3:19)
12. Thrice Upon A Theme (6:47)