CHARLES MINGUS — Mingus at the Bohemia (aka Chazz!) (review)

CHARLES MINGUS — Mingus at the Bohemia (aka Chazz!) album cover Live album · 1956 · Hard Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
“Mingus at the Bohemia” comes from a live concert early in Mingus' career and features some of his first originals in the avant-blues style that will come to be the hallmark of his career. Album opener, “Jump Monk”, is driving hard bop with a catchy and insistent arrangement that teeters on the verge of chaos. This tune would go on to be one of Mingus’ most played classics, and it sums up so much of what his career would be about. The other tunes on here are no slouches either, and they present the variety that Mingus was working with. “Serenade in Blue” and “Work Song” continue the hard bop wrapped in interesting arrangements initiated by “Jump Monk”, and “Septemberly” has Mingus combining “September in the Rain” with “Tenderly” in an odd arrangement that has the two horn players each playing one of the tunes simultaneously. Likewise, “All the Things You C Sharp Minor” is an unlikely mix of “All the Things You Are” with a theme from Rachmaninoff, and “Percussion Discussion” is avant-garde third stream chamber music with Mingus on bass and guest Max Roach on percussion. Apparently Charles added a piccolo bass part to this one in the studio. All combined, the tunes on this CD constitute a very imaginative collection of music that was well ahead of its time.

The music on here is great, but the recorded sound is not as great. The horns and drums come in loud and clear, but the bass and piano are low and can almost disappear if you don’t turn it up. This is unfortunate because the virtuoso piano playing of Mal Waldron is the star of the show here. Mal’s ability to fuse blues with humorous extravagances and deconstructionist blunt force mixes well with Mingus’ musical vision, as both seem to draw upon a combination of Ellington, Monk and the new avant-garde. Mal gets to show off his well developed classical chops when he combines the structures of the standard “All the Things You Are”, with a well known Rachmaninoff theme, its one of those typical musician rehearsal jokes that made it to the stage, and it’s a surprisingly clever trick when Mal pulls it off.

Conventional wisdom maintains that the two horn players on here were a bit old school for what Mingus and Waldron were up to, but they both do a great job playing Mingus’ unusual arrangements and plunge right into the spirit. Their solos, particularly trombonist Eddie Bert, are more conventional, but Eddie’s soft swinging style just adds to the interesting incongruities of the entire project. This isn’t Mingus’ best recording, the sound is uneven, his musical vision is not totally unified yet, and his ensemble is not exactly on his same beam, but this is still an interesting and eclectic album for any Mingus fan to own.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Lucky All Along Post-Fusion Contemporary
LISA HILTON
Buy this album from MMA partners
GNX Jazz Related Electronica/Hip-Hop
KENDRICK LAMAR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Christopher Dell - Søren Kjærgaard : Ruptures Jazz Related Improv/Composition
CHRISTOPHER DELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Live at 55 Jazz Related Rock
CHICAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Moon Shifts Oceans RnB
EMILY SAUNDERS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Chicago - Hard to Say I'm Sorry / Get Away [Live At 55]
CHICAGO
snobb· 16 hours ago
John Coltrane's iconic Parker Blues: "Freight Trane" w/ Tobias Meinhart, Rick Rosato & Jesse Simpson
TOBIAS MEINHART
js· 17 hours ago
Yo Viné Para Echar Candela
SPANISH HARLEM ORCHESTRA
snobb· 21 hours ago
Joe Armon-Jones - Sorrow (feat. Liam Bailey) (Official Audio)
JOE ARMON-JONES
snobb· 1 day ago
Ambrose Akinmusire - muffled screams
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
snobb· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed