Track Listing

1. II B.S.
2. I X Love
3. Celia
4. Mood Indigo
5. Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul
6. Theme for Lester Young (Goodbye Pork Pie Hat)
7. Hora Decubitus
8. Freedom [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41224 in Music
• Released on: 1995-08-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .18 pounds

Amazon.com
Cobbled from two sessions in 1963, this is one of Charles Mingus's stormiest recordings. From the blues-painted bass moaning that opens "II BS," a faster vamp on "Haitian Fight Song," to the blazing fire of "Hora Decubitis," these tunes come furiously barreling out one after another. Speed and density aside, however, there are also multicolor, lovely tunes like Ellington's "Mood Indigo" and Mingus's paean to Lester Young (elsewhere dubbed "Goodbye Porkpie Hat"). More than anything, though, this is a major document thanks to the presence of the big ensemble, harmonized by the late Jaki Byard on piano and fronted by a herd of horn-players, Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin chief among them. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Spectacular
In the liner notes to "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" Mingus calls it his best album because of the creative freedom that Impulse! records gave him that he didn't have at Atlantic or Columbia. He said he was going to re-record some of his previous songs the way he really wanted them heard. He was talking about the yet to be recorded Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. So yes, these songs are all old. Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Dannie Richmond and Jaki Byard are all in top form though and one listen reveals this obviously isn't a rehash of old ideas. Perhaps the best band he ever lead, but that's hard to say. To respond to someone who said this is where there was a slump in his writing- well he went to Europe and didn't record any studio albums in the United States for seven years so what is this based on? Let My Children Hear Music was the first album he did after he returned and that's a sweet album so I hope he wasn't saying that about that one.
Personally I agree with Mingus that "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" is his best. However I have to disagree with him a little here. The four Atlantic LPs (The Clown, Pithecanthropus Erectus, Blues and Roots and Oh Yeah) and the two Columbia LPs (Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty) that he discredits are great albums and well worth owning. Actually, I bought all of them before Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus and then when I finally did get Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus it was a real treat. After all it features Bob Thiele's production, the overall quality of the sound and the remaster, one his best and doubtless his most out there band playing modified versions of his best songs from his earlier albums. Its a wonderful reward for taking the time and effort to understand one of jazz's true originals.

Not his very best, but very close
Most of the works on this album are alternate versions of songs that he had recorded elsewhere. Due to the various label requirements, and the various whims of the artist, most of them are renamed.

Haitian Fight Song => II B.S.
Better Get It In Your Soul => Better Get Hit In Your Soul
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat => Theme For Lester Young
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too => Hora Decubus

What makes these versions unique, and worth having on their own, is the 9 piece band. Mingus was experimenting with the form and structure of the group, and was using some of his existing material to see what he could do with a larger group. The results are dramatic -- faster pacing, higher highs, lower lows.

Nothing here is as great an achievement as "The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady" or "Mingus Ah Um", but the new arrangements are quite fun and perfectly enjoyable.

An important note about Mingus X5:
MingusX5, an energetic and richly arranged contribution to the Charles Mingus catalog, should come with a warning. The titles listed for this album are deceptive: "II B.S." is very similar to "Haitian Fight Song," "Mood Indigo," as you may already know, is a Duke Ellington composition, "Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul" is a faster variation of "Better Get It in Your Soul" with a new ending, "Theme for Lester Young" is an alternate title for "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and "Hora Decubitus" sounds really familiar, like something off of Mingus Ah Um, but I can't place what it is. All of these pieces, except "Mood Indigo," are available elsewhere in varying forms, though, from what I can tell, this is a pattern among Mingus' recordings. That leaves only "I X Love" and "Celia" as surprises (unless they too are recorded elsewhere, but I have not seen or heard them).

All of these tracks are also available on a budget priced introduction to Mingus on the MCA label, which is about $4-5 cheaper than this album, and it includes the first section of "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" and, I believe, a piece from Mingus' solo piano album. However, there is a bonus track on Mingus X5, "Freedom," which is not listed above and is not on the original album or budget priced CD, and is a rousing contribution to the album as a whole and to the Mingus Catalog.