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Charles Mingus

One of the most important figures in twentieth century American music, Charles Mingus was a virtuoso bass player, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer. Born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 and raised in Watts, California, his earliest musical influences came from the church— choir and group singing— and from "hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when [he] was eight years old." He studied double bass and composition in a formal way (five years with H. Rheinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with the legendary Lloyd Reese) while absorbing vernacular music from the great jazz masters, first-hand. His early professional experience, in the 40's, found him touring with bands like Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Lionel Hampton.

Eventually he settled in New York where he played and recorded with the leading musicians of the 1950's— Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington himself. One of the few bassists to do so, Mingus quickly developed as a leader of musicians. He was also an accomplished pianist who could have made a career playing that instrument. By the mid-50's he had formed his own publishing and recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music. He also founded the "Jazz Workshop," a group which enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings.

Mingus soon found himself at the forefront of the avant-garde. His recordings bear witness to the extraordinarily creative body of work that followed. They include: Pithecanthropus Erectus, The Clown, Tijuana Moods, Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Ah Um, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Cumbia and Jazz Fusion, Let My Children Hear Music. He recorded over a hundred albums and wrote over three hundred scores. Although he wrote his first concert piece, "Half-Mast Inhibition," when he was seventeen years old, it was not recorded until twenty years later by a 22-piece orchestra with Gunther Schuller conducting. It was the presentation of "Revelations" which combined jazz and classical idioms, at the 1955 Brandeis Festival of the Creative Arts, that established him as one of the foremost jazz composers of his day.

In 1971 Mingus was awarded the Slee Chair of Music and spent a semester teaching composition at the State University of New York at Buffalo. In the same year his autobiography, Beneath the Underdog, was published by Knopf. In 1972 it appeared in a Bantam paperback and was reissued after his death, in 1980, by Viking/Penguin and again by Pantheon Books, in 1991. In 1972 he also re-signed with Columbia Records. His music was performed frequently by ballet companies, and Alvin Ailey choreographed an hour program called "The Mingus Dances" during a 1972 collaboration with the Robert Joffrey Ballet Company.

He toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States until the end of 1977 when he was diagnosed as having a rare nerve disease, Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis. He was confined to a wheelchair, and although he was no longer able to write music on paper or compose at the piano, his last works were sung into a tape recorder.

From the 1960's until his death in 1979 at age 56, Mingus remained in the forefront of American music. When asked to comment on his accomplishments, Mingus said that his abilities as a bassist were the result of hard work but that his talent for composition came from God.

Mingus received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Smithsonian Institute, and the Guggenheim Foundation (two grants). He also received an honorary degree from Brandeis and an award from Yale University. At a memorial following Mingus' death, Steve Schlesinger of the Guggenheim Foundation commented that Mingus was one of the few artists who received two grants and added: "I look forward to the day when we can transcend labels like jazz and acknowledge Charles Mingus as the major American composer that he is." The New Yorker wrote: "For sheer melodic and rhythmic and structural originality, his compositions may equal anything written in western music in the twentieth century."

He died in Mexico on January 5, 1979, and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River in India. Both New York City and Washington, D.C. honored him posthumously with a "Charles Mingus Day."

After his death, the National Endowment for the Arts provided grants for a Mingus foundation called "Let My Children Hear Music" which catalogued all of Mingus' works. The microfilms of these works were then given to the Music Division of the New York Public Library where they are currently available for study and scholarship - a first for jazz. Repertory bands called the Mingus Dynasty, Mingus Orchestra and the Mingus Big Band continue to perform his music. Biographies of Charles Mingus include Mingus by Brian Priestley; Mingus/Mingus by Janet Coleman and Al Young and Myself When I Am Real, by Gene Santoro.

Mingus' masterwork, "Epitaph," a composition which is more than 4000 measures long and which requires two hours to perform, was discovered during the cataloguing process. With the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were copied, and the piece itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller, in a concert produced by Sue Mingus at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, ten years after Mingus' death.

The New Yorker wrote that "Epitaph" represents the first advance in jazz composition since Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown, and Beige," which was written in 1943. The New York Times said it ranked with the "most memorable jazz events of the decade." Convinced that it would never be performed in his lifetime, Mingus called his work "Epitaph," declaring that he wrote it "for my tombstone."

The Library of Congress was presented with the Charles Mingus Collection in 1993, including autographed manuscripts, photographs, literary manuscripts, correspondence, and tape recordings of interviews, broadcasts, recording sessions, and Mingus composing at the piano.
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Charles Mingus: In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts

Read "In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts" reviewed by Thierry De Clemensat

by Thierry De Clemensat
April 25, 2025

Resonance Records specializes in the release of such sonic documents, serving both the history of jazz and the sheer pleasure that albums of this kind offer to collectors. It is, therefore, with immense delight that we rediscover in this recording Charles Mingus (bass and piano), Ricky Ford (tenor saxophone), Jack Walrath (trumpet;), Robert Neloms (piano), Dannie Richmond (drums), and immerse ourselves in the year 1977, when this album was recorded. The era's unmistakable imprint lingers in the sound, though the ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts

Read "In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
April 19, 2025

The Charles Mingus ensemble that arrived in Argentina in 1977 for the Buenos Aires concerts remains one of the lesser-known yet musically potent groups in the bassist-composer's storied history. These concerts are now presented in this first authorized release as a 2-CD set under the title Mingus In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, offered in a deluxe package that includes detailed notes from Mingus biographer Brian Priestley, recollections from the concerts by Argentinian writer Claudio Parisi, and new interviews with ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts

Read "In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
April 10, 2025

Here, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is some seriously swinging, seriously rowdy Charles Mingus. Recorded approximately six months before his fateful diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) the bassist deploys a street fighting melange--trumpeter Jack Walrath, tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford, pianist Robert Neloms and his wingman, drummer Dannie Richmond--and takes on Buenos Aries with all his righteous force. A celebratory exclusive release for Record Store Day 2025, In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts is really about as hot, honest ...

Album Review

Charles Mingus: In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts

Read "In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 8, 2025

So many live jazz dates have been taped over the years. Then the tapes have been shelved. With that in mind, there may be no end to the ongoing supply of uncovered jazz gems begging to be discovered. But Zev Feldman, the Jazz Detective, is doing his best to dig out as many as possible. His discoveries have included formerly unreleased sets by pianists Bill Evans and Art Tatum, saxophonist Sonny Rollins, bandleader Sun Ra, guitarist Wes Montgomery and many ...

Radio & Podcasts

Mingus Unearthed!

by Hobart Taylor
March 26, 2025

Mingus Unearthed! Just in time for Record Store Day Resonance Records releases never before heard live Mingus recordings from performances in Argentina. Also new music from David Murray with Ekep Nkwelle, Eva Novoa and The Los Angeles Improvisations Ensemble.Playlist David Murray Quartet Ekep Nkwelle “Birdly Serenade" from (Self Produced) 0:00 Gillian Margot Geoffrey Keezer “The Peacocks}} “ from (Self Produced) 5:23 Sasha Berliner" The Worst Person in the World" from Fantome (Outside In) 12:40 Host Speaks 20:21 Opus ...

Radio & Podcasts

Charles Mingus, Victor Feldman, and Chris McGregor

by Jerome Wilson
February 19, 2025

I was not able to do a live show last week so here is an old show from December 2020 that featured Charles Mingus, Brian Lynch, Gary Burton, Victor Feldman, and Chris McGregor. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Karrin Allyson “Good Morning Heartache" from Azure Te (Concord) 1:06 Tania Grubbs Quintet “Bird on a Wire" from Live at ...

Live Review

Clod Ensemble + Nu Civilisation Orchestra At Barbican Theatre

by Chris May
September 22, 2024

Clod Ensemble + Nu Civilisation Orchestra Barbican Theatre The Black Saint And The Sinner Ladyjny: London September 19, 2024 We will never know exactly what Charles Mingus meant by the title of his suite The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse!, 1963). Indeed, Mingus himself may not have known, though righteous anger was evidentially part of the music, as it was with so much of his work. Mingus declined to articulate ...

Video / DVD

Charles Mingus: Peggy's Blue Skylight

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 6, 2024

About an hour and 45 minutes north of Manhattan sits the village of Millbrook, N.Y. In the 1960s, a sprawling American Queen Anne mansion just outside the village became something of a counterculture landmark. Built in 1912, the house and the 2,500-acre estate was acquired at the start of the 1960s by the twin sons of the wealthy Mellon-Hitchcock family. The sons' grandfather was William Larimer Mellon, a co-founder of Gulf Oil. Their mother, Margaret, had married Thomas Hitchcock Jr., ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

One of the most important figures in twentieth century American music, Charles Mingus was a virtuoso bassist, accomplished pianist, bandleader and composer. Born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 and raised in Watts, California, his earliest musical influences came from the church— choir and group singing— and from “hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when [he] was eight years old." He studied double bass and composition in a ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

Event

New England Conservatory Celebrates Centennial Of Charles Mingus

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications
April 11, 2022

New England Conservatory celebrates the centennial of seminal American composer / bassist / bandleader / record label founder / activist / poet Charles Mingus with two concerts featuring NEC’s renowned faculty members and jazz students and a panel discussion. The events are free and open to the public. They take place: Tuesday, April 19Charles Mingus Centennial Panel 1:00 p.m., Pierce Hall NEC faculty member Jason Moran, bass trombonist and Mingus alumnus Earl McIntyre and others discuss Charles Mingus’s life and ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

Place our Musician of the Day ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Charles Mingus

Source: Michael Ricci
April 22, 2018

All About Jazz is celebrating Charles Mingus' birthday today!

Place our Musician of the Day ...
read more

Video / DVD

Charles Mingus: Montreux '75

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 27, 2018

On July 20, 1975, Charles Mingus was in Montreux, Switzerland, to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He was on tour to promote Changes One and Changes Two, a pair of albums recorded for Atlantic in December 1974. They are among the bassist's finest albums of the decade and were his first studio recordings in the States up until that point in the 1970s. For better or worse, a bulk of Mingus's 1970s albums were concert recordings. Now, Eagle Rock ...
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