Charles Mingus, the explosive genius of jazz

Widely known as the most famous bass player of jazz, Charles Mingus (22/04/1922-05/01/1979) was above all the most creative and dynamic composer, jazz…
time. The musical work in jazz belongs to a particular category, that can only be described as “Mingus”.
He was born on 22 April 1922 in Arizona. As a teenager he started working with classical music and played the cello. But he soon realized that, due to the racial segregation in the united states of his time, it was impossible for a black man to work as a classical musician, and turned his interest in jazz. H training in classical music helped him to develop a skill unique for bass player of the jazz, so one of the first successes with the band the βιμπραφωνίστα Lionel Hampton, 1947, entitled “The fingers of Mingus”.
He began composing at a young age, influenced by Duke Ellington, Ravel, and R. Strauss, always seeking to be a “spontaneous composer”. He admired Charlie Parker (known by the nickname Bird) and dividing the jazz in two seasons, one before and the other after the Bird. Mingus don’t hesitate to experiment: his compositions were revolutionary and did not follow faithfully the dominating prevailing trends in jazz.
Mingus recorded many albums and composed numerous pieces of music. Two key drives in the development of music, is the Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959), in which the αριστοτεχνία of Mingus in the composition stands out particularly in the track Boogie Stop Shuffle.
Charles Mingus collaborated with many famous musicians in jazz, such as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. In one of the best collaborations, with pianist Duke Ellington and the ντραμίστα Max Roach, recorded the excellent album Money Jungle, which includes Fleurette Africaine, one of the best specimens of the skill of the Mingus on bass.
Although he played bass, the real “body” of Charles Mingus was in the band. His compositions had a special vitality, because it’s usually dictated by the composition of the directly with the musicians, and oral, as a sound, without reading the notes. The melodies have an affected lyricism because, as he said himself, he wanted to be “spontaneous composer”, putting in the structure of the music of improvisation, and entering into the jazz, “collective improvisation”, in which participate all the musicians of a band.
A lot of creations incorporate a strong anti-racism, and often made a mockery of racial stereotypes in his music. The composition of Fables of Faubus, was an instrumental protest against the racist governor of the state of Arkansas Faubus.
The completely unique style of music embodies elements of gospel, blues and swing, but mostly bebop and hard bop. I followed all the developments of jazz of the era and faced the rise of the ‘free’ (free) jazz with suspicion, because he believed that freedom comes from the structure of the music.
Mingus was an explosive temperament and he was known as “the angry man of jazz”. It was often oiled-up, and the explosions of his wrath was notorious. The club Village Vanguard in New York, where in 1965 he played for 2 months with the band, there are still traces of an explosive nature. In a fit of rage she then broke a light fixture, which until today is known as “the illuminator of Mingus”, and destroyed the door of the club with a fire axe.
His life was of infinite other spicy aspects, and the Mingus described many of these in the autobiographical book Beneath the Underdog, along with his thoughts on many subjects, from religion and racism until the mysticism and solitude.
Charles Mingus has received several honors and awards for his musical work. The huge contribution to jazz was officially recognized, and secured for the next generations, when the U.S. library of Congress purchased the collection of the whole project in 1993.
The genius of “angry” of jazz passed away on 5 January 1979, having been marked indelibly the personal effect on the music.
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