All I knew of Mingus was that he seemed to be revered by a 'Bohemian' crowd. In the famous Penguin Modern Poets - The Mersey Sound (Henri, McGough and Patten), he seems to get a lot of mentions, and Henri has a poem entitled Tonight At Noon.
So, on seeing a box set of five of his albums at a reasonable price, I took the plunge. I don't think I've listened to them all, so I'm approaching this with new ears.
The title track starts off with a bass riff (Mingus was a bassist) and sounds completely improvised, apart from a sax-led band middle section and final minute. Invisible Lady opens with piano and trombone, with Roland Kirk's (the only other name I recognise) sax intermittently threatening to speed matters up. Old Blues For Walt's Torin just kind of rolls along, a nice background, occasionally waking up and reminding the listener "I'm still here". Similarly Peggy's Blue Skylight, a nice listen, a bit more laidback than the previous number but with a slightly off key middle section. Passions Of A Woman Loved has an almost Gallic feel as it flows with a jaunty beat.
I enjoyed this album, and will return to it, but it hasn't convinced me that Mingus was the 'Jazz Messiah'.
3* - interesting stuff, with lots to like, but without powerful impact
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