Track Listing

1. Haitian Fight Song
2. Ysabel's Table Dance
3. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
4. Better Git It In Your Soul
5. Original Faubus Fables
6. Peggy's Blue Skylight
7. Eat That Chicken
8. Solo Dancer
9. Mood Indigo
10. The Shoes Of The Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #192900 in Music
• Released on: 2000-11-07
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Bassist Charles Mingus was known for his hot-headed behavior and outrageous statements, but those extracurriculars are secondary to the magical music he created. This compilation is part of the 22-CD single-artist series that is the bulk of the musical component for Ken Burns's documentary Jazz. Featuring nine tracks, this is an accurate but thumbnail profile of one of jazz's most complex and gifted musicians. Many will remember the incorporation of "Haitian Fight Song" as the soundtrack to a VW car advertisement, but the sentimental beauty of "Goodbye, Porkpie Hat," the urgency of "Better Get Hit in Your Soul," and the cover of Ellington's "Mood Indigo" reveal a musical portrait that is strikingly broad and beautiful. More varied in his influences than many jazzmen, Mingus incorporated such disparate influences as Ellington, gospel, Mexican music, Dixieland, European masters, and even politics. Probably the most challenging of bop greats, Charles Mingus is an iconoclastic icon whose music never severed its tie with its roots, even as he continually broke new ground. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

a good introduction
I haven't heard this CD, but as someone who owns a couple dozen Mingus albums, I can see by the song selection that this is a pretty good overview of Mingus' career. Purists will argue that consumers would be better off just buying classic Mingus recordings like "Ah Um," "East Coasting," "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" and "Changes One" separately, and there's some merit to that argument. You simply can't encapsulate the career of a musician like Mingus on one disc, and more serious listeners might well want to proceed to the aforementioned CDs, each of which gives a more complete sense of Mingus' ideas during one particular period. But for the person who's just watched Ken Burns' Jazz and is seeking a convenient entry point/overview for Mingus, this disc will not disappoint. It contains the must-have classics like "Haitian Fight Song," "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" and "Better Get it in Your Soul" as well as a piece of the long suite, "The Black Saint..." Enjoy, but beware: you may soon find yourself wanting more.

Brilliant
Before buying this album I really wasn't that familiar with Mingus. And that is the great thing about the Ken Burn's Jazz Series. It introduces artists to people who may not have known that much about them before. I have a few of the Ken Burns cds, and find them an excellent way to discover an artists work over many years and record labels. It annoys me when I see people criticizing the work Ken Burns did on his documentary series and these albums. Of course nothing is perfect, but it did bring a whole new flock of fans to jazz, and that can only be a good thing.

This album by Mingus happens to be my favourite so far out of the KB's collection that I have. And I will most definately be buying more albums by Mingus in the near future. And it's all thanks to this cd. The 12 page booklet contains photos and an essay on Mingus. Highly recommended.

Close to Definitive
Falls a little short for a one CD definitive overview of Mingus. A big omission is 'Pithecantropus Erectus', an essential track in Mingus discography and probably my favourite of his compositions. Why including 'Mood Indigo'? He was very much influenced by the Duke and he would be the first to tell you that, but is an insult not to include another Mingus original instead of this one. STill, is a very good introduction to his music.