Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um
In a discography replete with notable recordings (133 as a leader) there are at least three Charles Mingus albums that should be part of any serious jazz collection: the 1957 Tijuana Moods along with Blues & Roots and Mingus Ah Um from 1959. They have all achieved legendary status over the years and have been awarded five stars in the All Music Guide to Jazz. They feature a loosely structured collective known as the Jazz Workshop with Dannie Richmond and Jimmy Knepper on all three. Booker Ervin, John Handy, Horace Parlan and Willie Dennis are on two but not on Tijuana Moods and the obscure Curtis Porter (aka Shafi Hadi) is on two but not on Blues & Roots. Mingus Ah Um was Porter’s last recording although he can be heard with Mingus on the 1959 film soundtrack of Shadows. Each album features original material performed by sidemen totally sympathetic to the leader’s exuberant, freewheeling approach to ensemble playing.
On this LP, featuring the blues in all its forms, he has performers well-versed in the music’s most basic harmony because John Handy, Booker Ervin, Dannie Richmond and Curtis Porter had all begun their professional careers on the R&B circuit. The well-named Better Git It In Your Soul is a hard-driving gospel romp in 6/4 reminiscent of Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting. Ervin has two choruses, audibly encouraged by the leader’s soulful exhortations over rhythmic hand–clapping. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat has an emotional reading from John Handy in an elegy for Lester Young who had died two months before this recording. The Boogie Stop Shuffle is an ambitious piece of writing with four basic themes. It has solos from Ervin and Horace Parlan cushioned by sympathetic ensemble riffs. Open Letter To Duke begins as a themeless uptempo blowing vehicle for Ervin and Handy before a dramatic tempo change leads to a Johnny Hodges-style ballad complete with glissandos from Handy.
Fables Of Faubus is Mingus’s sardonic reference to the notorious Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas at the time. The Columbia executives would not allow Mingus to sing the lyric because they thought it was too political. It was finally heard on the 1960 Charles Mingus Presents album (Candid CJM005). Jimmy Knepper, who is prominent in the ensembles throughout does not get too many solo opportunities but his contribution to Pussy Cat Dues is worthy of a Jack Teagarden – an absolute gem. His trombone bookends Jelly Roll over some old-style slapped bass from the leader. Handy maintains the satirical mood, sounding like a street-corner busker, before launching into a chorus of glorious bebop.
Discography
Better Git It In Your Soul; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat; Boogie Stop Shuffle; Self-Portrait In Three Colours; Open Letter To Duke; Bird Calls; Fables Of Faubus; Pussy Cat Dues; Jelly Roll (57.00)
Jimmy Knepper, Willie Dennis (tb); Curtis Porter (as, ts); John Handy (as, ts cl); Booker Ervin (ts); Horace Parlan (p); Mingus (b); Dannie Richmond (d). NYC, 5 & 12 May 1959.
Number One Essentials 291048
Horace Silver: Silver’s Blue
It was Stan Getz who introduced Horace Silver to the jazz world when he included him on a Roost recording date in December 1950. He had met the pianist a few weeks earlier when he was booked as a single at Connecticut’s Sundown Club where Silver’s trio accompanied him. Getz was so impressed he immediately hired the group to tour with him and they remained with Stan for the next 18 months. During that time Getz recorded three Silver originals – Penny, Potter’s Luck and Split Kick, the last a contrafact of There Will Never Be Another You. Once established in New York circles Silver found work with Lou Donaldson, Terry Gibbs, Bill Harris, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. He founded the Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey in 1954 and Silver’s Blue was recorded two months after he had left the group. At the time of these recordings Leonard Feather had canvassed 120 leading musicians to vote in a poll for the “new star” on piano. Horace Silver came top followed by Hampton Hawes and Dave McKenna.
Apart from Kenny Clarke and Art Taylor (obviously) this album features former Messengers, and Silver’s Blue – a slow call-and-response blues – is typical Messengers fare. To Beat Or Not To Beat is a Rhythm chart with some fine playing from Joe Gordon, whose career was cut short in a 1963 fire. His cup mute adds an intimate quality to How Long Has This Been Going On? The ubiquitous Donald Byrd, who recorded on two dozen occasions in 1956 alone is particularly inspired on the lovely The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. Hank Mobley, who was almost the house-tenor for Blue Note Records, lives up to his reputation as the middleweight champion of the tenor especially on Shoutin’ Out and the cute Hank’s Tune.
Discography
(1) Silver’s Blue; To Beat Or Not To Beat; How Long Has This Been Going On?; I’ll Know; Shoutin’ Out; Hank’s Tune; The Night Has A Thousand Eyes; (2) Everything Happens To Me (46.36)
(1) Donald Byrd, Joe Gordon (t); Hank Mobley (ts); Horace Silver (p); Doug Watkins (b); Art Taylor, Kenny Clarke (d). New York, 2 & 17 July 1956.
(2) as (1) omit Gordon, Taylor & Clarke; add Art Blakey (d). New York, 2 December 1955.
Pan Am Records 9152341
