Celebrating Mingus
The American Jazz Institute Chamber Ensemble

Special guest: Ray Drummond, bass

Tuesday, February 20, 6:45 • Admission Free
Cook Athenaeum, CMC Campus, Claremont

Charles Mingus was an accomplished bassist and prolific composer. Mingus was quoted as saying "my music comes from the church and Duke Ellington." His compositional skills were that, and much more. His long recording career bore witness to the many influences on Mingus. Bop, swing, New Orleans, Afro-Cuban and European classical music all found their way onto the Mingus palette.

Ray Drummond, bass

In the early 1940s Mingus worked with Barney Bigard and Louis Armstrong. In 1946 he joined Lionel Hampton's band. He received his first major exposure as a member of Red Norvo's trio in the early 1950s. During the '50s he worked with Lennie Tristano, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz, Art Tatum and Bud Powell. In 1955 the Charles Mingus Jazz Workshop was born. Mingus was always drawn to unique musical voices and through the years numerous artists with highly personal sounds participated in the Mingus Workshop, among them Jimmy Knepper, Eric Dolphy, Johnny Coles, Jackie McLean, Roland Kirk, Jaki Byard and Dannie Richmond.

1959 proved to be memorable for Mingus, as his Columbia recordings that year are among the most spectacular in recorded jazz. Mingus compositions from that period are some of his most brilliant, including Better Git It In Your Soul, Fables of Faubus, Jelly Roll, Boogie Stop Shuffle, Far Wells Mill Valley and his masterpiece, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

Mingus died in 1979. Through comprehensive reissues of his recordings and the Mingus Big Band in New York, the music of Charles Mingus lives on.

-- Mark Masters