Track Listing

1. Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers
2. Adagio ma Non Troppo
3. Don't Be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid Too
4. Taurus in the Arena of Life [#]
5. Hobo Ho
6. Chill of Death
7. I of Hurricane Sue

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44517 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com essential recording
Ambitious is perhaps the best way to sum up this 1971 large-ensemble recording. It hearkens back to Black Saint and the Sinner Lady in some important respects--chiefly the sense of vertical sprawl in the tunes, the sheer presence of so many instruments doing so much at the same time. It also importantly pointed to the omnipresence of Duke Ellington as an orchestral influence. Mingus scores the baritone sax the way Ellington had done, as part rhythm, part road marker, and part stir stick for the swirls of energy generated on tracks like "Hobo Ho." The sessions for Let My Children remain blurred as far as detail goes, but it's clear that James Moody and Bobby Jones do spectacular jobs soloing amid a dense crowd of ensemble movements and passages. And the version of "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife" is so heartfelt and moving that you almost miss the monumental complexity of the piece. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Another Mingus Masterpiece. How can one man be so brilliant?
Mingus just continues to wow me. Everytime I hear one of his albums I am left believing that music can never end, there is still so much yet to be composed...

Mingus has bridged the gap between jazz and classical music in this album, the two are pieced so well together that a symbiotic relationship is formed. To me, he has created a new kind of music all together. I have never heard anything like this album. So many elements are included; the master workings of the brilliant avante garde jazz and classical artists play a part in the arrangements. One can hear John Cage and John Coltrane but this does not mean that they do not hear Mingus. Everything is Mingus! Who can ever claim to be as expansive a musician or composer as Mingus? When Willie Dixon boldly said "I Am The Blues," no one doubted him. Mingus could say something similar, he is the prodigal son of jazz and classical, he always returns to his roots triumphantly while going far out and above and beyond.

I think that the secret of Mingus success, one secret, is his understanding of the timbre of many instruments. To be an excellent composer one has to understand timbre intimately, but Mingus manipulates and pullulates sounds. It was his idea to bring the bass into the horn section, to mix and match instruments and to never limit an instrument to one particular range of sounds or geographical placement both on paper and in the orchestra. "Let My Children Hear Music" explores this new possibility, redefining the geography of the orchestra and rupturing traditional sound. But there is always so much beauty involved! One can criticize Coltrane for being dischordant and abrasive at times, Mingus retains a flow and beauty sensitive to convention, but yet he swings and slants sounds! Is there any limit?

Few albums have radically changed music, few have held up over time. "Let My Children Hear Music" is one of the most brilliant and persuasive albums every recorded. This deserves intensive study, as does the mind of the man himself!

WOW
I usually buy music in, at least, pairs. Very rarely one CD. Sometimes it is interesting what I buy together. I bought this with a recording of Mahler's 8th symphony. Interesting that these are the only 2 discs I ever bought that I could not listen to all the way through on the first try. Both of them equally intense, both equal in composition and performance. L"Let my Children Hear Music" puts every other example of "orchestrated jazz" to shame (except for maybe Stan Kenton "City Of Glass"). Far beyond Frank Zappa "The Grand Wazoo". It's one of those ablums that leaves you totally devasted. Should not be passed up by ANY music lover.

A little bit of everything
Mingus proved himself once again to be one of jazz's most irrestible forces with "Let My Children Hear Music," a tempestuous set with amazing sweep and tremendous imagination. While a composer's reach sometimes exceeds his ability to grasp musicians, Mingus also managed with this recording to assemble the quality musicians required to do his work justice.

One can't adequately describe in a brief review the breadth of Mingus's work on this album, but it can be encapsulated by reference to two compositions, "Hobo Ho" and "The Chill of Death."

The former is a relentlessly hard-driving 10-minute exercise that plows forward behind an insistent bass vamp by Mingus. Throughout this tune of incredible energy, the horns swirl in, out, around and over each other. The best way to describe it is controlled chaos, anchored by Mingus's bass and the brilliant testimonial of James Moody's tenor.

The whirlwind of "Hobo Ho" scarcely has ended before you are swept into the orchestral strains of "The Chill of Death," on which Mingus orates his gothic meditation on a meeting with Death. Like his poetry or not, one can't help but admire Mingus's ambition and his insistence on stretching the definitions of a jazz performance. And it is a jazz performance, as Charles McPherson's yearning alto solo shows.

Mingus received considerable assistance on the release from Sy Johnson and Teo Macero. However, the vision for the date and the architecture of the pieces bear Mingus's indelible stamp. Few jazz musicians produced as consistently rewarding a discography as did Mingus. "Let My Children Hear Music" represents the great master at his challenging best.