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Charles Mingus - Blues & Roots Audio CD

A fair review of the Charles Mingus "Blues & Roots" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Charles Mingus reviews here, or go back to the Charles Mingus tabs.

Charles Mingus Band: Charles Mingus
Title: Blues & Roots
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting 2: Cryin' Blues 3: Moanin' 4: Tensions 5: My Jelly Roll Soul 6: E's Flat Ah's Flat Too

Top Notch


This swings like hell. This is a Jazz album to savour, recorded in New York in 1959 it has the right ingredients. In fact, in the fascinating original sleeve notes by Mingus he says that to some extent this album was a reaction to the critics who said he didn't swing enough. As Mingus rightly points out though the blues can do more than just swing.

It has many top quality musicians including Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin, Horace Parlan, Mal Waldron and Pepper Adams.

Of course this being Mingus he manages to incorporate a little dissonance in his own unique way and the whole album is, well funky (can't think of another word to describe it).

I've had this recording for years now and have only just started listening to it again. Its lost none of its power. A Fabulous recording.
.


A clarification
He's "tarrying", saying "thank you Jesus" or the like over and over to invoke the Holy Spirit, or while getting the Spirit. Pianist Horace Parlan isn't really repetitious, in the context of the Charismatic Church (Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting). IMO. North/South Convergence.


Charles Mingus: Blues & Roots
If that assessment is correct, then Blues and Roots must be Mingus' Safe As Milk. For as long as I've known about Charles Mingus, I've felt that he was sort of the Captain Beefheart of Jazz. It's his attempt to play the music at the roots of his tradition (jazz), but he is literally unable to play it straight; he's too restlessly inventive for that. He has no choice but to put his own unique, wild, hard-edged spin on things. Which makes them all the better. If straight, swingin', big band jazz is what you want, you shouldn't be looking at Mingus -- for that, check out Ellington, Bassie, or Armstrong. But if you want to hear an enjoyably modern and wacky take on the Gospel/Swing/Ragtime/Dixieland roots of jazz, then you're looking at the right album. Sure, hardcore Mingus fans will complain that this album is not avant-garde enough. Fans of rock and roll or pre-war jazz will probably think it's *too* avant-garde. But the lucky few who can put aside their expectations and just listen will be amply rewarded.

By the way, although I haven't heard the unremastered version and therefore cannot make comparisons regarding sound quality, it's well worth the extra couple of dollars to get the four bonus tracks of the remastered version. The "Old Jelly Roll Soul" outtake - a full 11 minutes long, more than double length of the original album version - is a highlight of the whole CD, not just of the bonus tracks.


I should like this more...
So why isn't this one of my favorite Mingus albums? To be honest, I'm not quite sure. Okay, I like my Mingus bluesy and rootsy. But I only see two of these compositions as particularly revealing or brilliant: the gutbucket gospel/blues Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting (which even then is better heard on At Antibes, in my mind Mingus' finest work) and the characteristically wild E's Flat Ah's Flat Too. On the other hand, My Jelly Roll Soul and Cryin' Blues are two of the least interesting Mingus compositions of all time, with little by way of creativity, fine performances or weird melodies that I associate with Mingus.
Perhaps it was just because he didn't really perfect the bluesy approach until the Oh Yeah/Ah Um period, which was still a couple years away at this point (in 1959, Mingus was still steeped in the avant-garde - this was the time of The Clown and Pithecanthropus Erectus, two far surperior albums, after all). Regardless, I see this as a mere footnote in the Mingus catalogue, rather than a dominant presence. .


Moanin'
There's enough of a similarity between them that fans of one will almost certainly like the other, but they each have a different focus. This is one of the all-time great Mingus albums, recorded around the same time as the better-known Mingus Ah Um. Ah Um is a great introduction to Mingus's scope as a composer; Blues & Roots is more narrow, focusing on grittier material influenced by gospel and the blues. Blues & Roots also has a slightly larger ensemble than Ah Um, with two trombones and four saxophones present on each track.

"Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" starts things off. Though quite similar to "You'd Better Git It in Your Soul", its melody is more simple. However, the ensemble playing is white hot and Booker Ervin takes another one of his "sermon" solos over handclaps. "Cryin' Blues" is the shortest track and features intense playing by Jackie McLean. "Moanin'", my personal favorite on the album, begins with a naaaaaaaasty baritone riff by Pepper Adams that slowly expands into raucous collective improvisation by the group. "Tensions" is a similar tune, though at a slightly lower temperature. "My Jelly Roll Soul" is almost exactly the same tune as "Jelly Roll" from Ah Um. "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too" (recorded elsewhere as "Hora Decubitus") closes the album with a blistering, swinging ride.

The strength of the album, besides the memorable riff-based compositions, is the blending of collective improvisation with strong solo performances. Ervin, McLean, Adams, John Handy, Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis are the perfect frontline for this kind of mix, and Mingus is just the right "conductor" to kick things along. If you like Mingus, or are merely curious about his music, Blues & Roots is essential listening.

(One caveat: the sound on this deluxe edition, as on most Atlantic jazz albums from this period, is terrible. ).


You can see a complete list of all Charles Mingus discography, or go back to the Charles Mingus tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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