Today is the 102nd birthday of Charles Mingus, a huge inspiration and IMO one of the greatest of all American composers. I think of him almost every day when I walk by his former residence, which coincidentally is right across the street from the old Time Cafe where the Mingus Big Band played his music weekly for several years.
Artist Charles Mingus
Date NY, , 1959
Label_Record Columbia CL1370
Matrix CO63337-3
Performers Willie Dennis (tb) John Handy (as) Booker Ervin (ts) Curtis Porter aka Shafi Hadi (as,ts) Horace Parlan (p) Charles Mingus (b) Dannie Richmond (d)
Title Open Letter To Duke
URL http://www.jazz-on-line.com/a/mp3t/TS481487.mp3
Year 1959
Album Review
Charles Mingus: At Antibes 1960 Revisited
This live recording from 1960 at the Antibes Jazz Festival in Juan-les-Pins, France, has a power unique unto itself. One can almost feel the quintet on the verge of combustion, held together only by the force of nature that is bandleader Charles Mingus. The excellent restored sound returns the tracks to their original order, which allows the listener to enjoy the concert in the correct sequence. #jazz#Mingus
Today in Labor History September 4, 1957: Nine African American students tried to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to block them. The students were ultimately admitted. However, they were abused and harassed throughout the year. One girl had acid thrown in her eyes. One of the girls was suspended, and later expelled, for having the audacity to defend herself against the attacks.
Here is footage of the Civil Rights movement, accompanied by Charles Mingus’s “Fables of Faubus.”
Louis Daniel Armstrong's relationship with racism influenced not only his music but also the broader discourse on race in America. The barriers he broke as a Black musician are undeniable. The “Uncle Tom” criticism levied at him by some prominent Black Americans of the day was a reflection of the complex & sometimes contentious relationship between art, politics, & race in the United States.
@Deglassco that name, Faubus, will forever be associated with the composer and bass player Charles Mingus, for me. Much of Mingus's music was a critique of the racism he had to endure. "Fables of Faubus" was his admonition of Faubus on the album Mingus Ah Um. Mingus, like Armstrong, was (to my mind) a genius.