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Amazon.com Delivering Jazz 101
by Editor, Andrew Bartlett
With Jazz 101, Amazon.com's expert editors introduce music
fans to key performers, important stylistic movements, and
milestone recordings in the history of jazz.
A Year for the Ages
The end of the 1950s was a watershed period in jazz. Of all
the recordings discussed in the Amazon.com Jazz 101 series,
four were recorded in 1959. Bass titan Charles Mingus's
famed "Mingus Ah Um" differs greatly from others in the
class of '59. He was a burly, towering man who almost
dwarfed the double bass. His style matched his size. Though
he was fond of subtlety and compositional elements more
familiar to classical music, by '59 he'd earned a reputation
as a wild card.
His recordings for his own label, Debut, and for Atlantic
Records showcased the scope of his playing and
writing. Tunes seemed to burst from albums, as Mingus
pounced on the bass and drove his bands until they sounded
like they'd explode. For all their glory, Mingus's early
masterpieces--including "Oh Yeah," "Pithecanthropus
Erectus," "The Clown"--were upstaged by "Mingus Ah Um."
"Oh Yeah"
Mingus on CD, On Sale
"Pithecanthropus Erectus"
Mingus on CD, On Sale
"The Clown"
Mingus on CD, On Sale
"Mingus Ah Um"
Mingus came to Columbia Records at the behest of producer
Teo Macero, who had been granted creative freedom to farm
new talent after the label recorded Miles Davis's "Kind of
Blue." Mingus pushed jazz forward; the two bands on "Ah Um"
reflected his drive.
The seven-piece ensemble that kicks off "Better Git It in
Your Soul" plays with a passion Mingus gleaned from his
experiences with gospel music as a child. A trio of
saxophonists--John Handy, Booker Ervin, and Shafi
Hadi--stand in as the jubilant choir shouting to heaven.
Mingus, meanwhile, drives the band with an ornate and
rock-solid vision that's heartwarmingly simple and spirited
yet intricate and complex.
Blues underlie much of "Ah Um," working as an underlying
figure during "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," Mingus's farewell to
tenor-sax giant Lester Young. This is one of jazz's most
poignant, tearful elegies, with John Handy performing
perhaps the greatest flutter-tongue solo in all of jazz.
After "Porkpie," the band is off to the races again with the
churning "Boogie Stop Shuffle," which shows off Mingus's
debt to Duke Ellington. Mingus scripts the piece as a rapid
conversation of horns across a train-strong rhythm, creating
a perfect mix of motion and atmosphere. He then builds on
the atmospherics with "Self-Portrait in Three Colors" and
the charged "Open Letter to Duke," which again shows the
bassist's appreciation of Ellington's aesthetic. Here,
Horace Parlan's piano seems to be talking back to Shafi
Hadi's alto sax.
"Bird Calls" is the second of three tributes on "Ah Um,"
this one dedicated to Mingus's late colleague Charlie
Parker. The tune is fierce, expressing anguish at the way
Parker lived and died. Ferocity in music was surely a Mingus
trademark. He detested racism and vented his feelings in the
teetering, comic "Fables of Faubus," a jab at Arkansas's
segregationist Governor Orval Faubus. Later recorded with
mocking, extemporaneous vocals, this all-instrumental
version of "Fables" changes tempos, alternates instrumental
solos atop dropping rhythms, then finds its way back to a
timeless tenor-sax solo by Ervin.
"Pussy Cat Dues," "Jelly Roll," and "Boogie Stop Shuffle"
deftly reach back to earlier jazz styles. These tunes ring
danceably, as if they might be just good-time jazz, little
more than nightclub fare. But Mingus keeps a robust current
under the jazz melody, giving the composition an
intellectual depth.
Closing this CD are "Pedal Point Blues," "GG Train," and
"Girl of My Dreams," none of which were issued on the
original "Ah Um." But what's of even greater value on this
album are the fixes made when the three-CD "Complete 1959
Columbia Recordings" was being prepared for release in
1998. Critically acclaimed reissue pioneer Michael Cuscuna
has made a huge contribution to jazz history by remastering
unedited versions of six of the album's original nine
songs. Thus the tunes are fuller, the solos appear in their
correct spots, and the complete collection represents a far
greater document of what Mingus achieved on two immensely
productive days in May 1959.
"Mingus Ah Um"
Mingus on CD, On Sale
"The Complete 1959 Columbia Recordings"
Mingus on CD, On Sale
Mingus on CD, On Sale
Mingus on CD, On Sale
Mingus on CD, On Sale
Mingus on CD, On Sale
Mingus on CD, On Sale