CHARLES MINGUS
The posse seems to be getting back to Mingus these days. Over at the Pritchett household for a Saturday evening visit, Elijah puts on a new copy of Dynasty that he has just scored. Various Mingus compilations come from the front of the Butchertown house since Josh and Tony moved in. The Floyd/Willems house has been known to have Mingus on when the band starts showing up for practice on Friday nights (at least on those rare occasions when the sounds of big engines aren't filling the house). Matt's bass often sounds as if Mingus is in rotation, even if he is not. And last summer, between Louisville and Traverse City, Blues and Roots was prominent in the soundtrack.
For a lot of us, Mingus started us into jazz . . . we had all heard jazz before Mingus, but it was Mingus who really got us listening to (and thinking about) jazz. Back when TBW! was Tony, Matt, Bill, and Bob Wagner, it was Bob who had the Mingus going . . . and the seeds of the jazz posse were planted.
Mingus is jazz . . . big, crazy, belligerent, mawkish, arrogant, savage, sophisticated, silly, brilliant, sexy, joyful, and whole lots of other cliches besides. There isn't a whole lot to talk about here that isn't totally out on the table; it's not like Mingus ever held anything back, and it isn't like I'm Nat Henthoff or something . . . .
We all moved on to various other fixations (Ayler, Coltrane, Dolphy, Taylor, and others in the jazz world), but Mingus is always there with the big sound of soul, just waiting for when said is required . . . .
[Bill]
