cubanology

Charles Mingus was and still is considered to be one of the best Jazz Bass player ever. This is for sure but his unknown contribution to Jazz is not recognized by mainstream music listener. His innovative form of improvisation of instruments was his golden contribution. He composed almost all of the songs you him play. In this post I will give the reader and listener as much information so they can go on and explore this man’s work. I will also include a Musical Jazz Special I made which featured the CD Album “The Mingus Dynasty.” I’ll start here with Biography: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......Continue Here